Page 80 - Blum Feinstein Tanka collection HIMALAYAN Art Bonhams March 20 2024

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A THANGKA OF CHATURBHUJA MAHAKALA
WEST TIBET OR WEST NEPAL, 13TH CENTURY
Distemper and gold on cloth; verso with consecratory inscriptions in Tibetan
in red ink composed within the frame of a black ink stupa.
Himalayan Art Resources item no. 1863
Image: 21 x 16 1/2 in. (53 x 42 cm)

$100,000 - 150,000

藏西或尼泊爾西部 十三世紀 四臂大黑天唐卡

Chaturbhuja Mahakala is the principal protector deity of the Kagyu school, as
indicated by the inclusion of monks from Drigung monastery within the painting’s
top register (see two early paintings also depicting Drigung lamas in private hands,
HAR 81410 & 81411). In addition to being the guardian of the Chakrasamvara
cycle of Tantras, Chaturbhuja Mahakala also serves as a meditational deity, and
thus can be regarded as an alternate emanation of either Chakrasamvara or the
Primordial Buddha Vajradhara. In this four-armed representation, Mahakala wields a
flaming sword and a trident in his secondary hands. In his primary hands, he holds
the ritual flaying knife (kartika) symbolizing the peeling away of negative thoughts,
and the skull-cap bowl (kapala) representing the containment of impurities.

Seated atop a variegated lotus base and rocky platform, Mahakala is joined by
an entourage of deities in accordance with the Chaturbhuja Mahakala tradition
conceived by Ga Lotsawa in the mid-12th century. Aside from the two attendants
of yellowish complexion offering treasure vases next to Mahakala, other notable
beings in this painting include the crimson goddess Chandika seated in the
middle of the bottom register, the numerous raven-faced Mahakalas, and Legden
Mahakala wearing a blue cloak in the upper right corner.

This thangka is remarkable for its distinct incorporation of elements from both
the traditions of western Tibet and western Nepal. In line with Nepalese styled
paintings attributed to the 13th and 14th centuries, the figures are typically
squat and heavyset. A yellow border demarcates the retinue of deities, brightly
contrasting with the painting’s crimson field. The ribbon ties and scarf ends have
been swept up by a wind, its naturalism contrasting with the stylized treatment
of the flaming mandorla and Mahakala’s tiger skin dhoti. A nearly identical
composition of Chaturbhuja Mahakala wearing a similar full-length tiger skin
appears in Alchi as a large wall painting over the doorway of the Lhakhang Soma,
which was completed around 1230 during the height of Drigung Kagyu authority
in western Tibet (Pal, Tibetan Painting, 1984, p. 55, no. 24; HAR 99624). Another
13th c. thangka in this sale depicting Vajrakila makes for a worthy comparison (Lot
726), as its combination of color palette and figural modeling are strikingly similar in
treatment with the present work.

Provenance
Carlo Cristi, 2010

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