Page 42 - Christies Indian and Himalayan Art IRVING collection Sept 24 2020 NYC

PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE ASIAN COLLECTION
720
A RARE EMBROIDERED PILLAR BANNER TEXTILE
NEPAL, 14TH-15TH CENTURY
17 x 12 in. (43.2 x 30.5 cm.)

$80,000-120,000
PROVENANCE:
Private collection, Hong Kong, by 1989.
LITERATURE:
R. Crill, "A New Chronology about a Rare Group of Nepalese Embroidery," Hali,
1989, pp. 30-35.
Himalayan Art Resources, item no. 24621.

A remarkably rare and highly sophisticated example of Nepalese textile art, Jambhala, illustrating the syncretic iconography within Nepalese Art. Both
the present lot consists of a series of embroidered panels depicting Hindu the V&A example and the present work retain curved panels at the edges,
and Buddhist deities assembled from a single source into a temple banner indicating that at least part of the original textile possibly mirrored the form
mount. Only a handful of similarly-early Nepalese textiles are known, most of of the Metropolitan Museum of Art example.
which are in museum collections. In the present example, the panels of cotton Apart from the present example and the previously-mentioned textiles at
embroidered with silk display a unique stitch pattern of minute brick-stitch the V&A and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, there are very few other early
outlined by chain-stitch and an idiosyncratic convention of superimposed Nepalese textiles known. An embroidered horizontal-format banner in the
crosses applied as decoration on sashes worn by the depicted figures. Radio- collection of the Philadelphia Museum of Art (acc. no. 1963-36-1), gifted
carbon dating determined with a probability of 95% that the embroidery by the esteemed curator Stella Kramrisch in 1963, depicts a royal couple
was created between 1220-1430 CE, demonstrating that a distinct and flanked by warriors and dancers, and likely dates from the mid-sixteenth
sophisticated style was established in Nepalese textile art far before the to the mid-seventeenth century. The V&A also has a horizontal-format
previously assumed date of 1700 CE. embroidered banner depicting scenes from the Ramayana, and is dated to
Each panel in the present textile has a multicolored striped border and the fifteenth-sixteenth century.
schematically presents a combination of Shaivite, Vaishnavite, and Buddhist
iconography. Six figures representing different aspects of Bhairava, the
malevolent form of Shiva, are wholly or partially depicted in two strips. All
of these figures have four arms, three eyes and attributes of Shiva such as
the khatvanga (mace) and damaru (drum). They are portrayed with stylized
mask-like features and pointed headdresses typically used to denote demonic
figures in Nepalese art. The remaining strips depict peaceful deities seated in
sattvasana with round nimbuses and less exaggerated facial features. Three
of these peaceful deities can be recognized as Vishnu by his attributes of
the chakra (wheel), sankha (conch shell), gada (club) and padma (lotus). Three
additional figures are shown as rishi, or sages, depicted with scrolls and
rosaries. The remaining deities, four of which reside in the outermost panels,
are tentatively identified as bodhisattvas, and are portrayed flanked by lotus
flowers and seated on a cloud or lotus throne. The organization of the figures
in the present banner suggest a schematic layout in the original source of the
embroidered panels.
The present lot is believed to have been assembled from a ritual garment
made in the Kathmandu Valley and commissioned by a Malla dynasty ruler for
private ritual use. Another early Nepalese textile at the Metropolitan Museum
of Art (acc. no. 1995.331), although fragmentary, retains some of its original
form, and was likely part of a garment worn by Vaishnavite priests in religious
ceremonies. It is unknown when the present textile was reassembled into
the present form, but the adaptation likely took place in a Tibetan monastery,
where such temple banners are still displayed today. A second embroidered
banner of the same shape and style, and likely assembled from the same
original textile, is now in the collection of the Victoria & Albert Museum in
London (acc. no. IS.6-1989). The V&A example depicts Vishnu and Lakshmi at
Textile Panel with Scenes from the Ramayana; Nepal, 15th
center, flanked and surmounted by associated Vaishnavite and Shaivite deities,
century; 15 3/8 x 13 1/8 in. (39.1 x 33.3 cm); The Metropolitan
and Buddhist figures such as lotus-bearing bodhisattvas and the wealth deity, Museum of Art, New York; Rogers Fund, 1995.331.
40