Page 58 - Bonhams, Indian and Himalayan Art New York July 23, 2020

853 854

853 854
A GILT COPPER ALLOY FIGURE OF TSONGKHAPA A THANGKA OF PADMASAMBHAVA IN HIS PURE LAND
QING DYNASTY, CIRCA 18TH CENTURY TIBET, 18TH CENTURY
Himalayan Art Resources item no.16822 Distemper on cloth; with original silk veil and mounts. Recto with gold
5 1/2 in. (14 cm) high Tibetan inscriptions identifying figures and places; verso with red Tibetan
‘om, ah, hum’ invocations at the center.
$4,000 - 6,000 Himalayan Art Resources item no.61954
Image: 24 1/2 x 17 1/4 in. (62.2 x 43.8 cm);
清 約十八世紀 銅鎏金宗喀巴像 With silks: 50 x 29 in. (127 x 73.5 cm)

Je Tsongkhapa (1357-1419), the revered founder of the Gelug school $3,000 - 5,000
of Tibetan Buddhism, is a popular subject for Qing-dynasty portrait 西藏 十八世紀 蓮花生大士居淨土唐卡
bronzes. He is shown wearing a pandita’s hat and luxurious, patterned
robes, raising his hands in dharmachakrapravartana mudra. Compare Packed with fine detail, this composition depicts Padmasambhava in his
with a closely related example published in von Schroeder-Imhof, palace atop the Copper Colored Mountain. Padmasambhava has resided
Schritte zur Erkenntnis, Zurich, 2006, p.95, no.29. Also see another in this Pure Land paradise since leaving Tibet. He is accompanied by
Tibeto-Chinese Tsongkhapa in Rhie & Thurman, A Shrine for Tibet, his two consorts, and worshipped by numerous lamas and kings lucky
New York, 2009, p.125, no.II-14. enough to have been reborn there. Above the four-storied golden palace,
celestial gods and goddesses dance and play music. The top register
Provenance is centered by Brahma in his own palace, flanked by Palchen Nga Gyal
Private American Collection and Longchenpa on either side. In the prominent orange mountain caves
below, yogis are secluded in tantric practice. On the other side of the
water in the foreground, tigers, snakes, demons, and cannibals perform
gruesome activities, forming a stark contrast with Padmasambhava’s
paradise. This was a popular subject in 18th- and 19th-century Tibet.
A similar composition is published in Rhie & Thurman, Wisdom and
Compassion, New York, 1991, pp.362-3, no.149.
Provenance
Private New Jersey Collection before 1969
56 | BONHAMS