Buddha Amitayus

During the reign of the Qianlong emperor (1736-95), it was customary to produce the same object in different media. This image of Amitayus is a good example of a jade sculpture based on a bronze prototype. The piece depicts the Buddha of endless life, a form of Amitabha. He appears as a youthful deity wearing elaborate jewels, and sits in the full lotus position on his throne. His hands are in the gesture of meditation. A small hole drilled into the palm attests to the fact that his hands once held a vase of ambrosia, which grants immortality.

During the Qianlong period, the emperor had literally thousands of Amitayus images cast in bronze for his mother's birthdays. On her seventieth birthday in 1761, the Qianlong emperor gave her 9,999 images of Amitayus to wish her long life. The Asian Art Museum has one example of an Amitayus made in 1770, possibly for the empress dowager's eightieth birthday. These Amitayus images were made in the Nepalese style: youthful figures with locks of hair going down their upper arms, floral earrings, and a necklace with three leaf-like pendants beneath the central medallion. Except for the missing crown and jeweled armlets, this image is a close copy of the bronze prototype, which has long locks of hair going down the arms, floral earrings, and the typical Nepalese necklace. The eyes, resembling an elongated "M," are also based on the bronze Amitayus statues. The ambrosia vase is lost, as is the crown, which was made separately.

This image, like the rest of the Amitayus figures made during the reign of the Qianlong emperor, was for the granting of long life. It was most likely a present made for a royal birthday.