Page 36 - Blum Feinstein Tanka collection HIMALAYAN Art Bonhams March 20 2024

712
A THANGKA OF SAHASRABHUJA LOKESHVARA
TIBET, 19TH CENTURY
Distemper and gold on cloth.
Himalayan Art Resources item no. 1875
Image: 33 x 23 3/4 in. (85.1 x 60.4 cm);
With silks: 57 1/2 x 32 3/4 in. (146.1 x 81.9 cm)

$20,000 - 30,000

西藏 十九世紀 十一面千手觀音唐卡

Illustrated within a paradisical landscape consisting of a wide-mouthed river,
Chinese peonies, and auspicious golden emblems gently floating above the sky
is the eleven-faced and thousand-armed form of Avalokiteshvara, who is framed
within a golden mandorla inset with multicolored gemstones. According to legend,
Avalokiteshvara’s despair after realizing the innumerable lives that he had yet to
save resulted in his head being split into thousands of fragments. He was saved
himself by Amitabha, who reconstituted his form to include eleven heads and a
thousand arms with an eye on each palm. In return for granting limitless sight in
all directions, Amitabha occupies the highest tier as one of Avalokiteshvara’s
eleven heads.

The presentation of Tsongkhapa flanked by his two spiritual sons, Gyaltsabje
and Khedrubje on the upper left matches the composition of the same group as
primary images in a thangka sold Bonhams, New York 14 September 2015, lot
837. The cluster on the right side is centered on Kalzang Gyatso, the Seventh Dalai
Lama holding a long-life vase, flanked by disciples.

This 19th century example follows in the style of Trehor Namkha Gyan, a thangka
master who was believed to have been active between 1610 and 1690. For other
examples attributed to this thangka master, see one sold in Sotheby’s, New York,
14 September 2016, lot 160, and another sold in Bonhams, London, 11 May
2017, lot 22.

Provenance
Christie’s, New York, 20 September 2000, lot 99

| BONHAMS
34
34 | BONHAMS