Empire of Emptiness: Buddhist Art and Political Authority in Qing ChinaImperial Manchu support and patronage of Buddhism, particularly in Mongolia and Tibet, has often been dismissed as cynical political manipulation. Empire of Emptiness questions this generalization by taking a fresh look at the huge outpouring of Buddhist painting, sculpture, and decorative arts Qing court artists produced for distribution throughout the empire. It examines some of the Buddhist underpinnings of the Qing view of rulership and shows just how central images were in the carefully reasoned rhetoric the court directed toward its Buddhist allies in inner Asia. The multilingual, culturally fluid Qing emperors put an extraordinary range of visual styles into practice - Chinese, Tibetan, Nepalese, and even the European Baroque brought to the court by Jesuit artists. Their pictorial, sculptural, and architectural projects escape easy analysis and raise questions about the difference between verbal and pictorial description, the ways in which overt and covert meaning could be embedded in images through juxtaposition and collage, and the collection and criticism of paintings and calligraphy that were intended as supports for practice and not initially as works of art. |
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Empire of Emptiness: Buddhist Art and Political Authority in Qing China Patricia Berger Limited preview - 2003 |
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Amitāyus artists Asian Avalokiteśvara baoji Beijing Bidian zhulin Biography of Rolpay bodhisattva Buddha Buddha Buddha Buddhas and Bodhisattvas Buddhist practice calligraphy catalog century Chengde China Chinese collection colophon copies cultural Dalai Lama Daoist deities dhāraṇī dharma Ding Guanpeng Dorje's dynasty empire enlightenment Figure Forbidden City Gelukpa gifts Guanxiu's Guanyin Gugong Heart Sutra images imperial incarnation Inner inscription Jebtsundamba juan Kangxi Kangxi emperor Kanjur Khutukhtu Lama's language Lhasa lineage Long Roll Mahākāla Maitreya Manchu mandala Mañjuśrī mantra Ming Mongolian Mongols monk National Palace Museum original painter painting Panchen Lama pantheon Pavilion of Raining Phagpa portrait Potala Qian Qianlong Qianlong emperor Qing court Qing dynasty Qing emperors Raining Flowers record ritual Rolpay Dorje Śākyamuni Sanskrit sculpture Sichelpart Sixteen Lohans style Sutra Tārā Tashilunpo temple thangkas Thukwan Tibet Tibetan Buddhism Torghuts translation Tsongkhapa Vajrayāna Vimalakīrti visual Wang Jiapeng Wutaishan Yonghegong Yongzheng Zanabazar Zhang Zhang Zhao