Page 118 - Blum Feinstein Tanka collection HIMALAYAN Art Bonhams March 20 2024

This large 18th century Newar painting depicting a Vishnu shrine is a mimicry of
a historical moment in Nepal. It displays religious rites set within an architecturally
rendered shrine in Newar style, as well as the associated patronage of Bhaktapur,
one of the three Malla kingdoms of the Kathmandu Valley (1201-1769). The
inscriptions along the lower register states the painting was commissioned in 1716
and its purpose was to commemorate the fourteenth year of performing the rite of
Anantavrata. Alongside a heavily stylized Newar aesthetic, is also the allusion of a
factual presentation of the rites, activities, and historic figures of the Kathmandu
Valley. Few paintings, exist on this scale, with intact inscriptions, giving
an impressively clear example of late Malla period cultural achievements.

The religious activity being performed centralizes on Vishnu and Anata, the seven-
headed snake who unfurls in a canopy behind the deity’s head. Both are supported
from the oceanic underworld of eight nagas who are depicted beneath the animal
mounts of Vishnu and his flanking consorts, Lakshmi and Sarasavati. In the upper
register, ten avatars of Vishnu are presented including Matsya the fish, Kurma the
tortoise, Varaha the boar, Narasimha the lion, Vamana the dwarf, Pashurama (Rama
with an axe), Rama, Balarama, Buddha and Kalkin. Vishnu’s multifarious emanations
gained popularity towards the end of the 17th century in Nepal, when Vaishnavite
cults influenced from India superseded devotees dedicated to Shiva. This revival of
the religious rites to Vishnu resulted in the celebration of these devotional activities by
donors, priests, and kings who are depicted in the lower register.

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