Page 56 - Blum Feinstein Tanka collection HIMALAYAN Art Bonhams March 20 2024

721
A THANGKA OF DAMARUPA AND AVADHUTIPA
CENTRAL TIBET, 16TH/17TH CENTURY
Distemper and gold on cloth; recto with Tibetan inscriptions in black identifying each
of the figures; verso with single line inscription numbering the thangka ‘1’ within the
original set.
Himalayan art resources item no. 89144
Image: 31 x 22 1/2 in. (79 x 57 cm)

$30,000 - 50,000

藏中 十六/十七世紀 達瑪如巴及迦耶達囉唐卡

Belonging to the same series as the painting of two Sakya hierarchs (Lot 722) in this
sale, this thangka depicts the portraiture of two Mahasiddhas, or Indian adepts, within
the Sakya Lamdre lineage.

The Mahasiddha on the left is of Damarupa, an Indian yogi who had the purported
capacity to appear in the twenty-four pithas (spiritual power places) and thirty-two
sacred places simultaneously. This he did while playing a two-sided drum made from
skull tops (damaru), and from which is derived the name Damarupa. In his other hand
he holds a kapala (skull cap) filled with blood. Seated on the right is Damarupa’s
disciple, Avadhuti, who himself became the master of the legendary adept, Gayadhara.
Avadhuti is a Buddhism term for the yogic channel through which bodhicitta (the
will to attain enlightenment for the sake of others) flows towards purification and
bliss. The term being also a common epithet for Buddhist yogis in general, makes it
nearly impossible to identify the factual history of this Mahasiddha. As in this painting,
Avadhuti is usually portrayed with his right hand gesturing downward. As both student
and master specialize in teachings involving the Hevajra Tantra, they are joined by a
retinue of Mahasiddhas, dakinis, and a dancing form of Hevajra specific to the Lamdre
tradition.

This thangka and lot 722 would have been part of a series of several thangkas all
representing Sakyapa lamas and Indian masters of the Hevajra teaching lineage. For
examples of other double portraits depicting golden Mahasiddhas, see a thangka
illustrating the same two masters from the Ernst Collection, sold in Sotheby’s, New
York, 15 December 2022, lot 29, another of Tilopa and Naropa, published in Rhie &
Thurman, Wisdom and Compassion, Expanded Edition, 2000, p. 426, no. 179, and a
third of Virupa and Kanha from the Zimmerman Family Collection, published in Pal, Art
of the Himalayas, 1991, p. 164, no. 95; HAR 85095.

Published
Hugo Kreijger, Tibetan Painting: The Jucker Collection, Boston, 2001, p. 70, no. 20.

Provenance
Sotheby’s, New York, 27 March 1991, lot 131
Dr. Ernst ‘Mischa’ and Angela Jucker Collection
Sotheby’s, New York, 28 March 2006, lot 90

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