Page 120 - Blum Feinstein Tanka collection HIMALAYAN Art Bonhams March 20 2024

These illustrated figures below give historicity, as Suvarnadeva, These paintings set within temple complexes drew from existing
a Brahmin priest officiates the ceremony before a fire offering. architectural structures, and are even site specific as in the
His parents sit beside him, all who are named in the inscription as Metropolitan example. They reflect local architectural designs, a
donors. Moreover, in the lower right corner sits King Bhupatindramalla distinctive tradition of timber arcades decorated with richly carved
of Bhaktapur (r. 1696-1721), accompanied by his young son, columns, brackets, and porticoes. Sloping tiered tiled roofs are
Ranajitamalla (r. 1722-69). He wears a distinctive white headdress elaborated with stupa finials and golden spires. This architectural
and striped large cape, in a similar fashion as he is portrayed in a typology is referred to in other examples of large format paintings
portrait (Pal, The Arts of Nepal, Vol. II, 1978, pp. 128-9, pl. 193). including two depicting Vishnu shrines (ibid, 1978, no. 115) and
Bhuatindramalla was considered a great builder and patron of the another sold in Sotheby’s, New York, 22 March 2018, lot 901,
arts, for which under his reign Bhaktapur experienced a cultural high which convey the elaborate integration of religious activity, cultural
point. His patronage for the cultivation of the arts is emphasized in interactions, and aesthetic and architectural designs. At such a
the vibrant celebration, enhanced by the musicians and dancers grand scale, this painting induces the legacy of the late Malla’s
positioned alongside the king and the priest. Large format paintings cultural affluence.
recording festivals and ritual rites at temple complexes holds
precedents in other paintings, including an early 18th century image
of the shrine of Jagannatha (Metropolitan Museum of Art 2019.185),
both paintings which in detail chronicle localized traditions.

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