Page 77 - Christies Indian and Himalayan Art Sept 2015
P. 77
118 PROVENANCE:
A PAINTING OF ARHATS PATANKA AND ABHEDA
TIBET, 18TH CENTURY The Shelley and Donald Rubin Collection, acquired in New York,
1 September 1998
Both seated on low thrones and wearing multicolored robes, Patanka Rubin Museum of Art, gifted from the above in 2006
at top holding a manuscript and backed by a red halo, Abheda at
midground holding a stupa and backed by a black halo, with the PUBLISHED:
attendant Dharmatala seated in a chair under a parasol at middle right,
holding a fywhisk and a vessel from which a vision of Amitayus Himalayan Art Resource (himalayanart.org), item no. 759
emerges, with Tara and Ushnishavijaya above and Virupaksha and
Vaishravana below, all set in a mountainous landscape with a fruit- Pantaka is the 13th and Abheda the 16th, and Dharmatala is the layman
flled tree at right attendant to the Sixteen Great Arhats. This painting is composition
Opaque pigments and gold on textile seven from a seven-painting set of Shakyamuni Buddha and the Sixteen
22æ x 16º in. (57.8 x 41.3 cm.) Great Arhats, and would also include the patron Hvashang and the two
remaining Guardians of the Directions, Dritarashtra and Virudhaka (in
$12,000-18,000 addition to the two depicted here).
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