Page 22 - Bonhams Indian and Himalayan Art September 2013

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A thangka of a Sakya lama A gilt copper alloy figure of Marichi
Tibet, 17th century Qing dynasty, 18th century
Distemper on cloth; the Sakya hierarch with the gesture of explication Seated on a lotus base in vajrasana with her eight arms radiating around
by his right hand and the left holding a cloth-wrapped sutra in his lap, her, wearing a garment with stippled hem and beaded edge, girdle, arm
surrounded by numerous lineage masters, and the protector deities ornaments, necklace, lotus bud earrings, and elaborate tiara, her principle
including Hevajra and Chakrasamvara flanking his head and three forms head with a serene expression flanked by her wrathful right hand face
of Mahakala in the lower section. and boar’s face on the left, her hair drawn into a double chignon and
Image: 18 x 14 in. (45.7 x 35.5 cm) surmounted by a buddha-head finial.
$2,000 - 3,000 13 in. (33 cm) high
$30,000 - 50,000
Provenance:
Private Southwest Collection Marichi, whose name means ‘ray of light’, is the goddess of the dawn,
Acquired from Navin Kumar in 1988-9 who drives away the night and the darkness of ignorance and fear. In
Chinese Buddhism, this deity assumes the female form and is believed
17 to be the mother of the Northern Star referred to as the ‘Dipper Mother’
A thangka of Vajradhara and Bhagavani (Dǒumǔ Yuánjūn), a constellation in Sagittarius. She is similarly observed in
Tibet, 16th/17th century Doaism, where she is often referred to as the Queen of Heaven (Tiān Hòu).
Distemper on cloth; blue Vajradhara embraced with his red consort at For a further reading cf. Frédéric, Buddhism: Flammarion Iconographic
center, he holds a vajra and bell crossed at the heart and she holds a Guides, Paris, 1995, pp. 224-5.
curved knife and skullcup, richly adorned with crowns and silks they
sit atop a lotus and lion supported throne, red lotuses bloom from the For another bronze most likely cast in a monastery in Beijing during the
mandorla throne back, numerous emanations, wrathful deities, and arhats reign of the Qianlong emperor (1736-96), see Pal & Tseng, Lamaist Art,
surround them while Amitabha sits at the center of a triad above. Boston, 1969, no. 47. Additionally, an example of Ushnishavijaya of
Image: 22 3/4 x 15 in. (57.5 x 38 cm) similar size and style was sold at Koller, Zurich, 7-8 May 2013, lot 130 and
$2,000 - 3,000 Christie’s, South Kensington, 15 May 2008, lot 379. Lastly, a monumental
version exhibiting an almost identical treatment of the face, jewelry, sash,
and robe is held in the Brooklyn Museum of Art (10.221).

Provenance:
Private Collection, Canada
Christie’s, New York, 20 September 2000, lot 111

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