In the Qing dynasty the Gugong acquired a large collection of tributary Buddhist niches donated by Tibetan areas, as well as Buddhist niches produced by the Zaobanchu’s palace workshops. Because of restraints required for preservation, most of these items and other Buddhist statuary have, for a long period, been held in closed collections. At the same time these articles have been largely disregarded by scholars. Surveying the archives of the Qing dynasty Zaobanchu,, we discover that there are many 18th century records regarding Buddhist niches. This article examines the archive’s records regarding the basic types of Buddhist niche presented to the Qing palace and their relationship to other niches and Buddhist statuary to present a tentative analysis of the artistic characteristics of tributary niches, their temporal aspects and their religious sense.
