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Hi there,
Congratulations for the site.
Seeing the shape of this piece it remember me some shapes of the western religious objects of cult like catholic, for instants.
But it seems that Satsuma ateliers had also some clients nearby with the same tastes or it was made for exportation?
So I ask if anyone can help me understanding what that piece is, I hope you enjoy this pictures as I do,
thanks in advance,
Regards

Pedro Lima

Unusual pieces, you only normally see these depicted on paper. I,ve not seen the like before in the flesh as it were.

I think they are a pair of Buddhist altar statuary. They represent the Buddhist Dhrama wheel, the eightfold path to enlightenment etc.

The flame type background you can see on Chinese art from the Han dynasty onwards. In particular the Northern Wei Dynasty.

Your pair are not so old.

In the pair there is a mandala occuring. The pieces are made from the five precious objects,

You have coral, torquoise, have a close look at the deep blue stones, if you see flecks of gold then, they are probably Lapis Lazuli.

Each colour represents a different concept in the mandala.

From memory

Torquoise = Air
Yellow (metal) = Earth
Red = Fire
White = Water
Blue = Space

The concept then develops further with white representing purity, the cycle of life and death, rebirth etc.

They are basically made from the five elements using five precious objects all bound togeter with the representation of the Earth (yellow) the center of the mandala, then N,S,E and W.

Thats the basics, the complexity of the pair is they represent the 1000 spoked wheel of the Dhrama. Start with birth and finish with rebirth.

Nice pair.

njg

A little elaboration

The five different colours, stones, the five eyes of Buddha, if 7 different colours then the 7 eyes of the fully enlightened Buddha.

The central coral, red, female, surrounded by the representation of a lotus throne.

So they probably made for the Altar of the Kannon(Japanese Guan Yin), a female deity.

I cannot read the seal.

Two flaming swords of Buddha.

You could even transfer all this iconograhy to silver spoons and conches. The conches are great fun, they have animals as well.

A really good book on Buddhism and its iconography is Robert Beer's Encyclopedia of Tibetan Symbols and Motif's.

ISBN 0-906026-48-2

Expensive but worth every penny.

A cheaper book but not so in depth is

Buddhist Symbols in Tibetan Culture by Dagyab Rinpoche

ISBN 0-86171-047-9

Dear sir:

The mark is reversed, and it is a seal script mark , that means Qianlong (1736-95) , I do not know if the marks is of the same period that the piece, perhaps somebody can.
Best Regards. J.R

Mark & Period

The red coral lotus throne, the Empress and would have adorned an Empresses Altar to the Guan Yin.

You can apply the iconography to the recent unmarked silver mirror post.

A pair of Qian Long (Venerable of the Nine and Five, Incarnate Buddha, Lord of Celestial Dragons) Mark & Period, Precious Jewels is the correct term for them.

Precious Jewels

njg

lucky you

Hi,
First of all I would like to thank you, good people for the extremely detailed and fast comments, it was a very god surprise, [maybe because I do not visite this great site so often].
Dear njg and J.R., its amazing what we, I mean me, do not now about decoratif arts.
It's a world that never ends and also a wonderfull one that I am exploring since a cople of years.
Thank you again for the comments, tips and descripctions.

Best regards,

P.S. The mark like should be.

Hello, a little correction, that seal mark should be like this one, it is the correct orientation, best regards. J.R

Thanks J.R. I had learn a lot during the process,
Best regards,

Pedro Lima

De nada, me alegro de haber sido de alguna ayuda.
Un saludo. J.R

These are certainly Chakras or representations of the Buddhist 'wheel of the law" designed to be on a Buddhist Altar.
They are Essentially Tibetan in design and these would be catalogued as Sino Tibetan or Tibeto Chinese. This means that they were made in China [as the reign mark underneath would suggest] They would have been made for the Chinese who practiced the Tibetan form of Buddhism. Certain Chinese Emperors and their families patronised Tibetan Buddhism and it flourished especially during their reigns.
These Emperors included among others the early Yuan Emperors, Yonglo and Xuande of the early Ming and Kangxi and Qianlong of the Ching dynasties.
It is not possible to tell from the photographs whether they are of the period or "modern"

It is impossible to tell from these low quality pictures if they are mark and period but I seriously doubt it cause these pictures are taken from an eBay auction.

Caro J.R.,
obrigado pelas saudações em Castelhano, fiquei sensibilizado porque as duas línguas, Português e Castelhano, são de povos irmãos,

Cumprimentos

-------------------------------------------------

Thank you very much Phillip Adams for your accurate and kind comments about the objects.
Like I said above the information that you all, good people, give me is preciouse to me because I like a lot decoratif arts among other things connected to asian arts and I try to know each day more, once again, thank you all.

Best regards

Dear PyroManiac,
thank you,
Regards

Check the deep blue stones for flecks of gold.

My gut instinct regarding these is there ok.

They are very pure in the iconography, I doubt a faker would have achieved such purity.

If they are fake can I have a pair, there must be a few pairs about.

Dear njg,
This pair is not mine, so I can't see the pieces in my hands.
I saw this in an online sell in the Satsuma section. It's a subject that I try to learn about the most.
Because this was a very unusual object for Satsuma pottery, and I know now why :D, I decided to ask help from you all.

So, every feedback I had about it was preciouse to me. I had learn a lot wiht your kind and accurate comments and thus I thank you all, so much, once more.

Best regards,

Pedro Lima

P.S. others "Wheels of Law"

link



URL Title :ESPANTO

http://www.espanto.weblog.com.pt/arquivo/185650.html

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