Page 70 - Blum Feinstein Tanka collection HIMALAYAN Art Bonhams March 20 2024

727
A THANGKA OF RATNASAMBHAVA
WESTERN TIBET, LATE 13TH CENTURY
Distemper and gold on cloth.
Himalayan Art Resources item no. 1868
Image: 18 x 14 3/4 in. (46 x 37.5 cm);
With cloth mounts: 28 x 18 3/4 in. (71 x 48 cm)

$100,000 - 150,000

藏西 十三世紀晚期 寶生佛唐卡

Ratnasambhava, “born of jewels” represents one of the Five Wisdom Buddhas,
a grouping of esoteric deities who configure into a tantric cosmology of
enlightenment. Each of the five buddhas is identified by a color, gesture, and
direction, characterized in Ratnasambhava by his yellow skin, open palm, and
personification as overlord of the south. The employment of sets of correlating
principles originates in pre-Buddhist India, but as they were later adopted into
Tantric Buddhism, they developed into concrete systems emphasizing particular
doctrines. For Ratnasambhava, his jewel-like realm conveys the wisdom of equality
and equanimity.

Visual renderings of these five cosmic buddhas depend on their Indic origins,
corresponding to a period in the 11th century where Tibetans sought an authentic
adoption of Buddhism from India. This diffusion of Buddhism into Tibet drew from
the aesthetic canons from eastern India, giving foreign styles a leading stage, as
illustrated here. The triad format with Ratnasambhava flanked by the bodhisattva
Ratnapani, “bejeweled hand” standing to the left and his consort Mamaki to the
right recalls an arrangement typical of medieval eastern Indian art. Moreover,
adhering to Indian pictorial models, the hierarchy through figural proportions
illustrated in the monumental size of Ratnasambhava, adopts the use of
scale to prioritize spiritual prestige of the central deity and his accompanying
suite of figures.

Visual elements also relate to Bengali illuminations in the bhadra-type shrine
defined by the tri-lobed arch where Ratnasambhava is placed. The use of elaborate
architectural thrones and framing shrine which mimic temple walls are prevalent in
12th century manuscripts from Bihar (Kossak, Painted Images of Enlightenment,
2010, p. 28, fig. 15). In a fragmentary example from an Indian painting depicting
Maitreya and Manjushri and a corresponding image from Drathang monastery, both
depict stupas and their conical spires, architectural features which line the top of
the encased shrine in this painting (ibid., p. 48 and 51, figs. 34 and 35).

Although this painting clearly adheres to Indian prototypes, it also illustrates Tibetan
regionality of style. Unlike the manuscript examples, the figures appear with a
frontality, relinquishing the use of angled Indic forms. The gold border framing the
painting appears as a popular trope within thangkas of the western Tibetan region,
illustrated in lot 726 and lot 730 of this sale. In addition, within western Tibetan
thangkas, anomalous iconographic elements are often added. For example,
enlarged representations of the eight auspicious symbols line the lower register, an
unusual placement and size for these emblems.

Provenance
Carlo Cristi, London, November 2011

68 | BONHAMS
68 | BONHAMS