Page 94 - Blum Feinstein Tanka collection HIMALAYAN Art Bonhams March 20 2024

The inscription along the verso of this painting is too worn to find any
consecratory clues, and there are other known examples of lamas holding malas
as well (ibid, Vol. I, 2023, p. 208, no. 12), giving an even more limited scope in
the identification of this lama. This leaves the accompanying retinue as indicators
of the figure’s lineage and associated order. In the outer registers along the top
and sides emanating from Maravijaya Buddha and a Vajradhara at center are
six mahasiddhas, eight Indian monks who can be identified by their exposed
shoulders, eight Tibetan monks who wear sleeveless vests beneath their outer
robes, and one Tibetan monk wearing an unusual flat hat. Appearing along the
throne back above the lama’s shoulders are six more monks, three of Indian origin
and three dressed in the Tibetan style. One of the Tibetan monks with a darkened
beard resembles Phagmodrupa, although no other Kagyu lineage figures
appear in this painting. Neither though does Dromton, the main teacher
of Chennga Bar and original disciple of the great Indian master Atisha (982-1054).
His distinguishing features of layman’s robes and curly locks do not correlate to
any of these subsidiary figures. While lineage ties remain vague, there is a clear
integration between both Indian and Tibetan monks, correlating to a period of
revival of Buddhist teachings in Tibet beginning in the 10th century. To establish
this Buddhist foundation, Tibetans looked towards the purity of the teachings from
its motherland in India.

Much of the credit for establishing this foundation of monastic culture in Tibet, and
subsequently visual tradition was the great Indian master Atisha. It is documented
that Atisha commissioned several paintings from Vikramashila monastery where
he was a senior hierarch. One such surviving manuscript from the monastery in
Bihar dated to the 12th century, shows an apparent connection in stylistic rhetoric
between the Indian painting tradition and this portrait (Kossak, Painted Images
of Enlightenment, 2010, p. 28, fig. 15). The combination of Bihari and Bengali
motifs, evident in decorations of the throne, the blue background, the application
of palm leaves, and the lower register of deities derive almost in a mimicry from this
Northeastern Pala tradition. The throne setting bearing an alternating red and blue
oblong semi-circle motif along the cornices correlate both in pattern and in design
to the Tara image from the manuscript. In a leaf from a 10th century manuscript
depicting the Buddha’s birth and an allegory of generosity (University of Cambridge
Library, http://cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/view/MS-ADD-01464/256), the saturated blue
background peppered with floating red flowers acts as the model for the similar
color palette and floral design in the background of this painting.

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