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AN APPLIQUÉ SILK TEMPLE HANGING WITH AUSPICIOUS SYMBOLS
TIBET, 18TH/19TH CENTURY
Himalayan Art Resources item no.61583
84 3/4 x 119 1/2 in. (213.6 x 304.2 cm)
$40,000 - 60,000
西藏 十八/十九世紀 祥瑞堆繡掛幔
In abundant and joyful celebration of life, strings of wish-fulfilling gems and lotus-bearing
floral sprays cascade from the mouths of kirtimukha at the very top. A camel and a
leopard bearing auspicious symbols appear in the chain below. This compositional
element alternates between large ovals of a deep navy ground containing a parasol
joined by horses and a sky-blue wolf in one instance, and stupa surrounded by
auspicious objects.
In discussion of a late 19th-century example in the Zimmerman Family Collection, Pal
explains that these “characteristically Tibetan” large appliqué hangings were wrapped
around the upper sections of pillars and walls in large monastic halls (Pal, Tibet: Tradition
and Change, Albuquerque, 1997, p.202, pl.101). See a related example hanging in situ
in the Norbulingka, Lhasa, Central Tibet, published in Kulturstiftung Ruhr, Tibet, Munich,
2006, p.547, no.128. Also HAR#7101.
Provenance
Collection of a Private American Family, acquired in Kathmandu, 1967-70
128 | BONHAMS