A RARE BLUE SILK LAMPAS 'FIVE DHYANI BUDDHAS' PANEL 10th-13th century

43cm (17in) wide x 28.5cm (11 2/8in) high.

The panel finely woven in gold thread with four rows, each executed in repeat pattern with designs of the Five Dhyani Buddhas, from left to right, Akshobhya, Ratnasambhava, Vairocana, Amitabha and Amoghasiddhi, each figure seated cross-legged on a lotus padma base, the hands held in appropriate mudras, except for Ratnasambhava, where the hands repeat the gesture of Akshobhya, all on a blue background decorated with curling leaves before a floral border to the sides, mounted.

十至十三世紀 五方佛紋藍地織金錦

Provenance: Jacqueline Simcox Ltd., London
An English private collection

來源：倫敦古董商Jacqueline Simcox Ltd.
英國私人收藏

Finely woven in a technique known as 'lampas', the present panel presents a finely-embellished surface of gilded paper patterns wrapped around a silk core, against a midnight-blue ground.

Aksobhya, Amitabha, Amoghasiddhi, Ratnasaṃbhava, and Vairocana are the five Dhyani Buddhas worshipped in Mahayana Buddhism. They are viewed in tantric meditation and are found in Buddhist iconography. Each of these Buddhas represents a different aspect of the enlightened consciousness to help in spiritual transformation. They signify the core mandala in ourselves including our environment and the cosmos. In addition, they represent the five types of human personality and exemplify the perfect form of the personality types.

Akshobhya is a heavenly Buddha who rules over the Eastern paradise, Abhirati. The individuals who satisfy Akshobhya's promise are renewed in Abhirati and will not fall again into the lower state of consciousness. Akshobhya holds a vajra in his left hand which symbolises shunyata or an absolute reality that both animate and inanimate things are unmanifested. Amitabha Buddha is the focus of Pure Land Buddhism, which is one of the largest schools of Mahayana Buddhism in Asia. Amitabha signifies mercy and wisdom and is often portrayed with his hands in meditation pose, his fingers barely touching and gently folded over the lap with palms facing upwards. Amoghasiddhi Buddha represents the achievement of all activity. His name signifies 'Infallible Success'. He reigns in the North and he is usually portrayed in Buddhist iconography as transmitting a green light, which is the view of finishing knowledge and advancing peace. His hand motion is the mudra of courage, with his right hand placed in front of his chest and palm in an outward direction as though to state 'stop'. Ratnasambhava Buddha symbolises wealth. His name means 'Source of Jewel' or the 'Gem Born One' and he holds his hands in the desire-satisfying mudra, with his right hand facing down and the palm outward and his left in the meditation mudra symbolising generosity. Finally, Vairocana Buddha is believed to be the exemplification of all the Dhyani Buddhas, including everything and everywhere, ubiquitous and omniscient. His hand gesture in the Dharmachakra mudra signifies the turning of the wheel and places the hands in such a way that the thumbs and forefingers touch at the tips to form a wheel.

Compare with a similar but larger blue-ground silk 'lampas' 'Five Dhyani Buddhas' panel, 10th-13th century, in the Guimet Museum, Paris, illustrated by Jacqueline Simcox Ltd., Chinese Textiles and Works of Art, London, 2005, p.13. See also a similar 'lampas' panel depicting six rows of 'Five Dhyani Buddhas', 10th-13th century, illustrated by Spink & Sons Ltd., The Art of Textiles, London, 1989, no.18.