Page 76 - Indian, Himalaya and Asian Art Bonhams Setp 2015

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A THANGKA OF AMITABHA
Qing, 18th century
Resplendent in robes of red and orange draped over each shoulder, Amitabha sits in pure
contemplation holding a dark blue begging bowl swirling with amrita.
Image: 28 x 17 in. (71.2 x 43.2 cm); With silks: 33 x 22 3/8 in. (83.9 x 56.9 cm)
$20,000 - 30,000

清十八世紀 阿彌陀佛唐卡

This Luxurious well-balanced composition suggests the hand of a master painter. Creating
a pureland Sukhavati for Amitabha, the gilt-edged landscape with stylized rock-work in the
foreground is enveloped by a dense forest of wish-fulfilling tress laden with gold swags.
Ducks and fowl in idyllic water swim around the walled pavilion with gold-lined roofs. A
diminutive monk, almost hidden in the oversized blossoms, raises his hands in obeisance
before Amitabha’s lotus throne. Meanwhile, three mischievous boys line up behind a monk
offering a golden chakra before a vessel swollen with precious jewels and auspicious elements.
The smaller details of soft smoky clouds and floating blossoms with gilt-lined stems are
meticulously rendered.

On either side of Amitabha, sit Avalokitshevara and Vajrasattva gazing upon him. They are
accompanied by monks and royal patrons offering massive blossoms. Ushnishavijaya and Shri
Devi inhabit in the bottom corners. The upper section is populated by an apsara and flying
mystics flanking the Panchen and Dalai Lamas and central Shakyamuni.

A thangka of Avalokitesvara of a similar high quality, crown-types, textile motifs, and radiating
aureoles was sold at Bonhams, New York, 20 March 2014, lot 28. Also compare to a similar
composition in the Palace Museum, Beijing, published in Zangchuan Fojiao Tangka-Gugong
Bowuyuan Cang Wenwu Zhenpin Quanji, Hong Kong, 2006, p. 127, no. 116.

Further comparisons can be drawn between the facial types, textiles, and landscape elements
in an example in the Rubin Museum of Art (see Thurman & Rhie, Wisdom and Compassion,
1999, New York, no. 131, p. 362). Also compare www.himalayanart.org/items/476, www.
himalayanart.org/items/1104, a thangka of Shri Devi sold at Bonhams, New York, 11
September 2012, lot 167, and another in the Yale University Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript
Library: www.himalayanart.org/items/31709.

Referenced
HAR - himalayanart.org/items/31529

Provenance
Estate of Dr. Paul Dumas, Montreal, before 1997
Private Quebec Collection

74 | BONHAMS