AN INSCRIBED ‘WATER-LAND RITUAL’ VOTIVE PAINTING OF BUDDHA DATONG ZHISHENG, LATE MING-EARLY QING DYNASTY

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AN INSCRIBED ‘WATER-LAND RITUAL’ VOTIVE PAINTING OF BUDDHA DATONG ZHISHENG, LATE MING-EARLY QING DYNASTY China, 17th-18th century. Ink, gilt, and watercolors on paper. Finely painted, the Buddha seated in dhyanasana atop a lotus throne raised on an elaborate tiered base centered by a lion and supported on four ruyi feet, his hands held in dharmachakra mudra, clad in loose-fitting monastic robes with gold hems, backed by a mandorla and halo, surrounded by wispy flames, all below a ribboned parasol amid swirling clouds and flaming pearls. His serene face with heavy-lidded downcast eyes below short, elegantly arched brows, centered by a golden urna, his full bow-shaped lips forming a subtle smile, the ushnisha peeking through his blue hair. Inscriptions: To the upper right margin, ‘Datong Zhiseng Fo’ [‘Buddha Datong Zhisheng’]. Dimensions: Size 73 x 35.7 cm, Size incl. frame 80.8 x 42.8 cm Framed under acrylic glass. (2) This work was likely created for a ‘Water-Land Assembly’, an originally Tantric ritual described as a ‘plenary mass’ that became ‘an important part of the Buddhist establishment's continuing and remarkably successful effort to maintain its influence in the face of competition from Daoism, Confucianism, and popular beliefs’. See Marsha Weidner (et al.), Latter Days of the Law: Images of Chinese Buddhism 850-1850, 1994, p. 280-281. Datong Zhisheng Buddha, the Buddha of Great Universal and Surpassing Wisdom, appears in the seventh chapter of the Lotus Sutra, "The Parable of the Phantom City." After attaining enlightenment in an immeasurably distant age, he taught the Lotus Sutra to his sixteen sons, all of whom subsequently achieved Buddhahood; the youngest became Shakyamuni Buddha. His teaching provides the setting for the celebrated parable in which a wise guide conjures a city to offer weary travelers temporary refuge before leading them onward to the true treasure, a powerful expression of the Buddha's skillful means and the ultimate unity of all paths in the One Vehicle. Within the Water-Land ritual, Datong Zhisheng was invoked in the Upper Hall as the principal representative of all Buddhas of the past. Paintings such as the present work therefore served not merely as devotional images but as active ritual presences, transforming the altar into a cosmic assembly whose awakened power was summoned for the universal deliverance of the living and the dead. Literature comparison: Compare a closely related painting of Vairocana, dated 1454, 154.7 x 96 cm, in the Spencer Museum of Art, University of Kansas, accession number 1996.0106. Auction result comparison: Type: Closely related Auction: Bonhams Hong Kong, 29 April 2025, lot 738 Mid-Estimate: HKD 650,000 or approx. EUR 74,000 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing Expert remark: Compare the closely related subject and manner of painting. Note the crown of the Buddha and the larger size (152 x 79 cm). Auction result comparison: Type: Closely related Auction: Zacke, 9 March 2023, lot 197 Result: EUR 20,800 or EUR 23,000 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing Expert remark: Compare the closely related subject and manner of painting. Note the earlier date and the larger size (148 x 70 cm).

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