Page 26 - Blum Feinstein Tanka collection HIMALAYAN Art Bonhams March 20 2024

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A THANGKA OF SHAKYAMUNI BUDDHA
EASTERN TIBET, 18TH CENTURY
Distemper and gold on cloth; with original silk brocade mounts and silk veil; recto
inscribed in gold Tibetan identifying each figure and a lengthy dedication to the
central Buddha inscribed immediately below him as follows:

གང་གི་རིང་ནས་བདུད་སྡེ་དམ་བཅོམ་ཀྱང་།
རྡོ་རྗེ་གདན་ཞེས་རབ་གྲགས་འཛིན་མིའི་བཞི།
སླར་ཡང་ལུས་མེད་དཔུང་བཅས་བྱམས་བརྩེ་ཡིས།
ཕམ་མཛད་ཟས་གཙང་སྲས་ཁྱོད་འགྲོ་འདིའི་གཉེན།

Translated:
“He who subdued the troops of devils eons ago,
Completing the four contemplations at the renowned Vajrasana,
Again defeated those formless maras with compassion,
You, the son of Shudhodhana, are the companion of all living creatures.”

Himalayan Art Resources item no. 1865
Image: 28 x 20 in. (71.1 x 25.8 cm);
With Silks: 54 1/4 x 30 1/2 in. (137.8 x 77.5 cm)

$40,000 - 60,000

藏東 十八世紀 釋迦牟尼唐卡

This beautiful painting of the Buddha Shakyamuni reenacts the legendary moment
of his enlightenment at Bodh Gaya, India. Holding a lapis-blue alms bowl, he
extends his right hand forward in bhumisparsha mudra to call upon the earth to
witness his awakening. The earth, in response, provides him a lavish, golden throne
studded with gems. Attending to his comforts within this lush abode of pink and
white Chinese peonies is the guardian Vaishravana, pairs of bodhisattvas, winding
dragons, lions in supplication, together with Shakyamuni’s two primary disciples,
Shariputra and Maudgalyayana. Surmounting the throne is the Mahasiddha Virupa,
who shares the company of two mahasiddhas resting on a bed of clouds with
comb-like streaks.

This painting follows primarily in the painting traditions of Central Tibet, as
demonstrated by the dense arrangement of the leaves and the stylized treatment of
the lions’ snouts. These traits also appear on other Buddha thangkas from the 18th
century, including one in the Palace Museum, Beijing (HAR 34756), and another
sold in Bonhams, Hong Kong, 30 November 2022, lot 1019. Also compare the
lotus petals and throne design to a red and gold ground Buddha thangka in the
Rubin Museum of Art, New York (P1996.19.13; HAR 309).

(Thangka in full)

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24 | BONHAMS