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A DOUBLE PORTRAIT THANGKA OF THE DRUGPA KAGYU LAMAS,
KHENPO GANGPA AND KHENPO DENSAPA
TIBET, 13TH/EARLY 14TH CENTURY
Distemper and gold on cloth; recto with small Tibetan inscriptions within throne
cloths and scrolling vines identifying various figures in the top and side registers;
verso inscribed with Tibetan ‘om, ah, hum’ incantations behind each figure and
as well as several lines of prayers and consecration mantras behind the two
central figures.
Himalayan Art Resources item no. 30997
Image: 16 3/4 x 14 1/2 in. (42.5 x 36.8 cm)

$60,000 - 80,000

西藏 十三世紀/十四世紀早期 竹巴噶舉傳承祖師唐卡

Following in the early painting traditions of northeastern India, this thangka
illustrates a pair of lamas seated on a conjoined throne while engaging in
discourse. Both of their names are inscribed in small letters along the white border
of the tapestries hanging over the throne. The monk at the left is identified as
Khenpo Gangpa (meaning ‘Glacier Abbot’), displaying the bell and vajra attributes
associated with Vajradhara, whereas the monk at the right is identified as Khenpo
Densapa (the ‘Abbot who leads the residential monastery’), with Manjushri’s book
and sword. Although their exact identities and dates are uncertain, as the names
provided in this thangka are epithets all used by the Sakya, Kagyu, and Gelug
schools, the assembly of inscribed early teachers from the Kagyu tradition
provides an approximate terminus for this painting from the late 13th to the
early 14th centuries.

Following a downward path to the painting’s right side reveals another inscription
by a monk in bhumisparsha mudra, who is just below the white-robed figure likely
depicting Lingre Padma Dorje (1128-88). It gives the abbreviated name of Tsangpa
Gyare (1161-1211), the founder the Drugpa Kagyu school, as well as identifying the
unnamed donor of the painting to be the monk at the painting’s lower right corner.
Other notable figures from the Drugpa lineage such as Gotsangpa (1189-1258),
who is seen here with a red folded hat, and Rinchen Gon (1118-95), the Kagyu
founder of Tropu monastery who studied under Tsangpa Gyare and Phagmodrupa
(1110-70) at Densatil monastery. Juxtaposing with these teachers are delightful
renderings of deities such as the white goddess Ushnishavijaya and the wrathful
blue Ekajati, whose pose is mirrored by a six-armed form of Mahakala below. In
details such as the brilliant, golden flourishes of the thrones, the flowers scattered
against a dark blue background, or the unique floral patterns on the overhanging
rugs, the present work bears close resemblance with three other Tathagata
paintings which were likely made around 1250 by a Nepalese-trained artist. One
is in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, another is in the Museum of Fine
Arts, Boston, and the third is in the Philadelphia Museum of Art (Kossak & Singer,
Sacred Visions, 1998, pp. 138-42, nos. 36a-c).

Provenance
Sotheby’s, New York, 22 September 2000, lot 51
Peaceful Winds, Santa Fe
Tenzing Asian Art 2010

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