Page 58 - Blum Feinstein Tanka collection HIMALAYAN Art Bonhams March 20 2024

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A DOUBLE PORTRAIT THANGKA OF SAKYA PANDITA AND SAKYA
CHOGYAL PHAGPA
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 ‘5’
within the original set.
Himalayan Art Resources item no. 1858
Image: 32 x 23 in. (81.3 x 58.4 cm)

$30,000 - 50,000

藏中 十六/十七世紀 薩迦班智達及八思巴肖像唐卡

This painting depicts Sakya Pandita (1182-1251) and Sakya Chogyal Phagpa
(1235-80), the fourth and fifth of the Five Sakya Patriarchs of the Sakya Order.
It was once part of the same series together with a painting of Damarupa and
Avadhutipa (Lot 721) in this sale. The figures here display the gesture of teaching,
with the red-capped master on the left propping up a book and sword while the
student on the right supports a vajra and ghanta. Particular to this set is a shared
color scheme consisting predominantly of green, orange, and reddish landscapes.
Also reflecting the painter’s own distinct style is the use of asymmetry in regards
to the figural form, a detail which is most apparent in the eyes and brows of the
two hierarchs when presented in three-quarter profile. This feature also appears in
a thangka of Gayadhara and Drokmi from the Ernst Collection, sold in Sotheby’s,
Paris, 15 December 2022, lot 5 and another in the Musée Guimet (Béguin, Les
Peintures du Bouddhisme Tibétain, 1995, p. 398, cat. 306). Other paintings from
this set include a frontal image of Vajradhara in the Southern Alleghenies Museum
of Art (HAR 90528), a painting of Sachen Kunga Nyingpo also en face in the
Rubin Museum of Art, New York (P1998.17.1; HAR 705), and a painting
of Konchog Gyaltsen and Muchen Sempa Chenpo, which is also found in
the Rubin (P1996.20.16; HAR 368).

Provenance
Acquired before 2018

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56 | BONHAMS