A SILK EMBROIDERED BUDDHIST TIARA

Ming Dynasty

Ming Dynasty
The five-pointed diadem finely embroidered with gold and polychrome silk threads with five panels, each depicting one of the Five Transcendental Buddhas, namely Amithaba, Vairocana, Akshobya, Ratnasambhava and Amoghasiddhi, all seated in dhyanasana above a blossoming lotus and within a border of wispy clouds, the sections joined at the lower edge by a silk band.
61cm (24in) wide.

明 五佛冠

Provenance: Linda Wrigglesworth, London

來源：倫敦Linda Wrigglesworth

Ritual diadems, such as the present example, were used in Tantric practices from the fifteenth century, when China had close relations and cultural ties with Tibet. They would have been worn by monks, oracles and lay healers for ritual or ceremonial purposes including initiations, exorcism and funerals.

The Five Transcendent Buddhas were thought to have overcome the cycle of rebirth and suffering through attainment of spiritual knowledge. They also represented the five directions, five wisdoms, five senses, five colours, five additions and five Buddha clans. When wearing the diadem, therefore, the monk became homogenised with the divine essence and a receptacle for cosmic forces; see L.Frederic, Buddhism: Flammarion Iconographic Guides, Paris, 1995, pp.125-147, ang D.C.Gluckman, 'For Merit and Meditation: Selected Buddhist Textiles in the Los Angeles Museum of Art', in Orientations, vol.31, no.6 June 2000, pp.90-98.

A related silk embroidered Buddhist ritual diadem, 15th century, is illustrated in Weaving China's Past. The Amy Clague Collection of Chinese Textiles, Phoenix, AZ, 2000, p.122, no.20; see also two related silk ritual diadems, 15th and 17th century, illustrated in Heaven's Embroidered Cloths. One Thousand Years of Chinese Textiles, Hong Kong, 1995, pp.190-193, nos.50 and 51.