Page 38 - Blum Feinstein Tanka collection HIMALAYAN Art Bonhams March 20 2024

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A THANGKA OF MAITREYA
TIBET, LATE 18TH CENTURY
Distemper and gold on cloth; recto inscribed in Tibetan in gold ink identifying the
lineage figures in the upper registers.
Himalayan Art Resources item no. 1861
Image: 25 x 16 1/2 in. (63.5 x 41.3 cm);
With silks: 46 1/2 x 26 1/2 in. (118 x 65 cm)

$30,000 - 50,000

西藏 十八世紀晚期 彌勒菩薩唐卡

Residing in a dense forest blanketed by clouds is Maitreya, the Buddha of the
Future, who is identified by the kundika he holds in his left hand. According to
Buddhist legend, Maitreya is prophesized to usher in a new era of enlightenment
in his earthly realm of Ketumati, following a period of moral decline known as the
Latter Day of the Law. As a large congregation of worshippers begins to gather at
his feet, Maitreya places his hand over the head of the monk closest to him. He
likely represents a monk from the Gelug order, as indicated by the presence of the
Gelug’s founder, Tsongkhapa (1357-1419), a Panchen Lama, and several other
yellow hat-wearing monks.

Stylistically, the overgrown landscape, the elaborate throne, and the layered
treatment of the clouds which form into a mountain peak seems to borrow from
Tsangri styles of West-Central Tibet, where these features are perhaps best known
in paintings from Tashi Lhunpo monastery. A portrait of the Fifth Dalai Lama in the
Potala Palace shares its rich coloring and layered clouds as the present work (HAR
9165). Two other Maitreya thangkas with similar compositions but with a muted
palette include one in the Field Museum of Natural History (HAR 54475)
and another sold in Bonhams, New York, 13 March 2017, lot 3045.

Provenance
Sotheby’s, New York, 22 September 2000, lot 36

(Thangka in full)

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