Page 31 - Blum Feinstein Tanka collection HIMALAYAN Art Bonhams March 20 2024
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The following lot consists of two thangkas make up eight out of the
sixteen Great Arhats, or Buddhist saints who were believed to be
the earliest followers of the historical Buddha Shakyamuni. Starting
in a clockwise direction, one painting depicts Vanavasin with a fly
whisk, Angaja with a fly whisk and incense bowl, Vajriputra seated on
a horseshoe-backed chair, and Kanakavasta with a jeweled lasso.
Following the same direction as the first, the second painting begins
with Nagasena seated on a chair with serpents while holding a vase
and monk’s staff, Abheda supporting a miniature stupa, Chudapantaka
seated in meditation beneath a leafy canopy, and Bhadra expounding
on the Dharma. In both paintings, the detailed scenes with subsidiary
figures invite closer inspection into their fantastical landscapes.
Originally, these two paintings likely once belonged to a set of seven,
comparing closely to an earlier example sold in Bonhams, New York,
14 September 2015, lot 28, and a related thangka from another set in
the Rubin Museum of Art, New York, that shares a similar scale and
composition with the present works (P1995.16.1; HAR 148).
IMAGES OF DEVOTION | 29
THE RICHARD C. BLUM AND SENATOR DIANNE FEINSTEIN COLLECTION OF HIMALA Y AN AR T | 29
