Porcelain figures for Empress Chabi of Khubilai Khan: An attempt to define the image and clarify the dating

Khubilai Khan (r. 1271–1294) was the first emperor of the Yuan dynasty (1271–1368) in China. Early in 1253 he recognized Tibetan Buddhism as the official state religion and from that time Tibetan influence prevailed in creating portraits and in the arts and crafts in general. Khubilai’s wife Chabi (1227–1281) 察必皇后 was an adherent of Buddhism, especially of the Tibetan Sa skya sect. She encouraged Khubilai to understand the intricacies of Buddhist teachings. For all her deeds Phagspa-lama (1231–1280) recognized her as an incarnation of the Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara already during her lifetime. There was a Yuan state program: when creating the portraits of emperors in different materials – such images had to be recognizable and had to convey realities in details. Three practically identical sculptures, now identified, were made in qingbai porcelain. Comparing these porcelain figures to bodhisattvas’ images reveal difference in many details: attire, hairstyle, jewelry; however, the porcelain pieces have many similar portrait features of Chabi that are depicted in the painted portrait and in scrolls and woven silk made after it. The qingbai porcelain figures of Chabi were created in the last quarter of the 13th century as posthumous altar sculptures to be worshipped in Yuan Tibetan temples.