A magnificent and very rare Imperial gilt-copper stupa and gilt-copper alloy throne, The stupa Nepal, 15th century, The throne four-character mark and period of Qianlong | 尼泊爾 十五世紀 鎏金銅合金嵌寳石佛塔 配 清乾隆 鎏金銅座

The emperor Qianlong (r. 1735-1796) and the imperial preceptor Rolpai Dorje (1718-1786) were renowned for their knowledge and appreciation of early Buddhist sculpture and artefacts from India, Nepal and Tibet. This exquisite and rare fifteenth century Nepalese stupa may have been offered to the emperor, perhaps as tribute from a Tibetan hierarch. The stupa was clearly honoured at court and incised with a Qianlong reign mark on the four sides of the harmika at the base of the spire, and a tall gilt copper alloy throne was commissioned for it as a pedestal. The petals of the circular double-lotus stand at the top of the Qianlong pedestal are modelled to match those on the fifteenth century stupa, while the lotus petals at the foot of the pedestal are in contemporaneous Qing style. The tall multi-faceted and tiered throne is cast with flowers and Lanthsha characters in relief against stippled matt backgrounds. The throne base is sealed with a gilt-copper plate engraved with a visvavajra, compare a similar multi-faceted engraved and gilt sealing plate of a Qianlong period gilt-copper alloy stupa and base, illustrated in A Treasure of Ritual Objects of the Palace Museum, Beijing, 2020, pp. 134-135. Another highly ornate example of a gilt-bronze stupa and throne, in the collection of the State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, is illustrated in Marylin M. Rhie and Robert Thurman, Wisdom and Compassion: The Sacred Art of Tibet, 1996, cat. no. 241.

Four enshrined Jinas on the dome of the stupa are placed at the cardinal directions, with Akshobhya in the East, Ratnasambhava in the South, Amitabha in the West and Amoghasiddhi in the North. The fifth Jina Vairochana is envisioned at the vertical axis. Emerald green, deep blue and garnet coloured stones favoured by Nepalese craftsmen are inset around the base of the dome, harmika and chatra (umbrellas) on the spire. A circa fifteenth century Nepalese gilt copper example in the Museum der Kulturen, Basel has similar stone settings and shrines, and retains an original separately cast four-sided lotus base, see Gerd-Wolfgang Essen and Tsering Tashi Thingo, Die Götter des Himalaya, München, 1989, p. 52, cat. no. 1-21, illus. p. 51. Another fifteenth century Nepalese gilt copper example with similar inset stones but no shrines is in the Potala Collection, Lhasa, see A Well-Selected Collection of Tibetan Cultural Relics, Beijing, 1992, p. 90. pl. 67. Compare also with another 1th century example, sold Sotheby’s New York, 4th June 1994, lot 12.