LONDON.- The Ming court, spanning more than 270 years of history from 1368 to 1644, was the largest patron of Buddhist art in the history of China. Within that time, it was under Yongle’s – the third emperor of the dynasty – imperial patronage when production of gilt copper alloy Buddhist sculptures saw its prime. The sculptures were believed to be employed to insert influence in surrounding regions, either brought as tribute to Tibet by visiting dignitaries or was given to Tibetan monks visiting the Yongle court. One of such, a gilt copper alloy figure of Manjushri, will be offered as a star item at the Bonhams sale of Claude de Marteau Collection – The Final Journey in Hong Kong on 6 October 2023, with an estimate of HK$6,000,000-8,000,000. This October sale also marks the finale of the four-part auction of the spectacular Claude de Marteau Collection, one of the world’s important private collections dedicated to Hindu and Buddhist cultures in the ancient regions of India, Nepal, Tibet and China.

This casting of this figure of Manjushri – the deity of supreme wisdom – was made to an exacting standard, finished just as beautifully on the back as on the front of the image. Like most that were preserved in Tibet, it has pigment on the face: golden skin, dark eyes outlined in red, red lips, dark brows, and blue hair, a practice that imparts life-like qualities to the face.

The Yongle emperor (r. 1402-24), while favouring Confucianism, nonetheless supported both Taoism and Buddhism. He invited the 5th Karmapa Deshin Shekpa (1384-1415) to Nanjing to perform funeral rites for his parents who were Buddhist. Research has shown also that these bronzes were sometimes re-gifted to the Qing Court when, during the Qianlong period (1736-1795), the Tibetan Buddhism leaders sent objects of the Yongle and Xuande periods as gifts to the Manchu ruler.

The sale, which offers more than 60 lots in total, showcases other highlights including:

A Gilt Copper Alloy Figure of White Mahakala, Tibet, 15th Century. Estimate: HK$1,000,000-1,500,000. The two-armed figure of Mahakala is depicted to be standing on a corpse, holding a skull cup and chopper. Pigment is used to highlight the hair, eyebrows, beard, eyes, and mouth. A similar form of the deity was popular during the Yuan period (1290-1368), during which it was conceived as a god of war and therefore served as the Yuan state protector, but its popularity maintained through to the Ming rulers, especially Yongle.

A Silk Applique Thangka of Bhaishajyaguru, Tibet, 19th Century. Estimate: HK$800,000-1,200,000. Imaged far left below. Tibetans excelled in the arts of textile appliqué, whereby pieces of cut cloth are assembled and sewn in place to create a complex tableau resembling a painted picture. At the centre is Bhaishajyaguru, the Buddha of Medicine, who is blue like the gemstone lapis lazuli, holding a begging bowl filled with myrobalan, a potent medicinal plant. Physical and mental well-being are prerequisites to the demands of Buddhist practices.

A Gilt Copper Alloy Figure of Guhyasamaja, Tibet, 15th Century. Estimate: HK$4,000,000-6,000,000. Imaged middle above. Hailed as the “king of tantras” in Tibet, the Guhyasamaja Tantra features two sublime beings – male and female – merging into one another in an ecstatic sexual embrace. It symbolises the transcendent state of Buddhahood that one achieves through the completion of tantric instruction.

A Grey Schist Figure of a Bodhisattva, Ancient Region of Gandhara, 3rd/4th Century. Estimate: HK$2,000,000-3,000,000. Imaged far right above. The figure is likely Maitreya, who in Mahayana Buddhism is destined to succeed Shakyamuni as the next and final Buddha. The cosmopolitan attitude of Gandharan art, which fused Indic content with Iranian and Greco-Roman aesthetics, can be found in this figure. Other standing images of Maitreya with similar attributes and stylistic features are found in several museum collections.

The Claude de Marteau Collection

The spectacular collection, which has an estimated value in excess of €10million, is a unique assemblage of art gathered over decades by the late dealer and collector, Claude de Marteau. Much of its museum-grade content spanning 400 consummate treasures has never been seen in public, chronicling a period of 1,500 years in the Hindu and Buddhist cultures that once flourished in the ancient regions of India, Nepal, Tibet and China.

As a young man, Claude de Marteau stumbled upon the art that was to be his lifelong passion while he was on an extended trip through Afghanistan, over the Hindu Kush to the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia. Entirely self-taught, he became a respected dealer and an eminent authority on Tibetan, Nepalese, Indian and Southeast Asia art. He was renowned for his ‘great eye and intrinsic aesthetic sensibility’, in the words of his friend, the museum curator and scholar of southeast Asian and Himalayan art and culture, Dr. Pratapaditya Pal.

Pieces sourced by Claude de Marteau can be found in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York – including a Buddha image of the Gupta period in India from Sarnath – Cleveland Museum of Art and the Asian Art Museum.

The Collection has by far achieved more than €12 million over three sales, topped by a 15th/16th century Tibetan gilt copper alloy figure of the 9th century Buddhist master Virupa. It was sold for €952,900 on 12 June at Bonhams Cornette de Saint Cyr, more than six times the estimate of €150,000-200,000.