TIBETO-CHINESE, QIANLONG PERIOD, 18TH CENTURY

A Sino-Swedish expedition, financed by Vincent Bendix and led by Sven Hedin and Dr. Gösta Montell, visited the site of the summer palace Jehol in the summer of 1930. The goal was to acquire a suitable temple building to be brought to Chicago for the International Exposition of 1933, for which the Golden Pavilion within the 'Potala' temple (Putuo Zhongcheng Miao) was selected, modeled after the Dalai Lama's palace in Lhasa. Built by Emperor Qianlong in 1767-71 as one of the eight 'Outer Temples' in celebration of his sixtieth birthday, it also marked the Empress Dowager's eightieth anniversary and the return of part of the Torgut tribes from Russia. The Swedish commission decided to make a faithful replica of the Golden Pavilion under the supervision of Chinese architects, to be brought to Chicago for the International Exposition, while sculptures were selected from Jehol as well as other temples in Mongolia and Northern China to furnish this temple. At the Chicago exhibition, the present figure of Avalokiteshvara was arranged along the central wall resting on an altar table flanked by two guardians, cf. The Chinese Lama Temple, p. 18 and ill. p. 28. For an account of the further fate of the temple, see B. Lipton, 'The Chinese Lama Temple: The Golden Pavilion of Jehol', Treasures of Tibetan Art: Collections of the Jacques Marchais Museum of Tibetan Art, 1996, appendix A, pp. 261-67.