Page 46 - Sotheby's Indian Himalayan and Southeast Asian Wroks of Art March 2019

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PROPERTY FROM THE ESTATE OF JOHANNES DUTT ghanta. His central presence on each painting in majority of the mandalas in the series have only
A THANGKA DEPICTING A HEVAJRA the series suggests that the cycle of mandalas one makara head and vajra prong at each side,
MANDALA is dedicated to Lama Dampa, often identified in with a further exception of the Chakrasamvara in
inscriptions as His Holiness the Dharma Lord. a private collection, see Jeff Watt, himalayanart.
Tibet, Second half of the 14th Century, Lama Dampa was a student and patron of the org, no. 77204, that also has twin vajra prongs
Circa 1370-1380 celebrated Tibetan scholar Buton (1290-1364) and makara heads. The resulting composition fills
who transmitted Vajravali teachings to the Sakya the inner ground of the mandala palace leaving
in the form of a circular multi-colored lotus community in the fourteenth century. little empty space in one of the most dynamic and
bearing a vimana palace and five forms of aesthetically pleasing of all the paintings in the
Hevajra depicted within inner chambers, with the Paintings from this series were first published, set. The format of a ring of multi-coloured lotus
blue eight-headed, sixteen-armed, four-legged and recognized as masterpieces of early Tibetan petals and flames, the circle of charnel grounds
Akshobya-Hevajra at the center embracing art, by Robert Burawoy in his seminal exhibition and the surrounding scrolling vine supporting
his consort Vajra Nairatmya and dancing on catalogue Peintures du monastère de Nor, Paris, deities and monks against a flower-strewn blue
prostrate mara, red Amitabha-Hevajra with his 1978, which featured four of the mandalas. background is consistent throughout the series,
consort Pandara Vasini in the chamber above, Paintings from the set are now preserved in as is the painted floral border to either side:
yellow Ratnasambhava-Hevajra with Buddha private and museum collections worldwide, albeit in some of the mandalas, such as the
Lochani to the left, green Amoghasiddhi- including the Guhyasamaja mandala in the Margot Metropolitan Museum’s Jnanadakini, the scenes
Hevajra with Samaya Tara to the right and and Tom Pritzker Collection, see Pratapaditya in the charnel ground are painted against a black
white Vairocana-Hevajra with Vajradhatvishvari Pal, Tibet: Tradition and Change, Albuquerque, ground, and others, like the Hevajra, have a light
below, each manifestation accompanied by eight 1997, p. 146, pl. 73; the Jnanadakini mandala in blue setting. The linear format of the upper and
dancing goddesses including Vetali, Dombini, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, see Steven M. lower registers, depicting deities and religious
Ghashmari, Pukkashi, Gauri, Shavari, Chauri, and Kossak and Jane Casey Singer, Sacred Visions, figures on lotus pedestals beneath lobed arches,
Chandali, a further eight dancing goddesses and New York, 1999, p. 163, cat. 46; the Nairatmya remains the same throughout the series: the
eight kalasha surrounding the chambers on the mandala in The Cleveland Museum of Art, acc. no. presiding monk and altar table however can be
segmented yellow, red, green and white scrolling 1993.4; and the Vajradhatu mandala in a private placed at either end of the lower register.
vine ground, with four gates at the cardinal points collection, see Jane Casey, Naman Ahuja, David
protected by vajra issuing from the mouths of Weldon, Divine Presence, Barcelona, 2003, p. 148, Although the Hevajra is a Tibetan Sakya order
makara, all enclosed by a ring of multi-colored cat. no. 48. For others in the series and further work, the painting style is Nepalese and it is
flames and the eight charnel grounds, with Sakya discussion on the historical importance of the most likely to have been done by a Newar artist.
hierarchs and dancing goddesses surrounding paintings see Pratapaditya Pal, Tibetan Paintings, Nepalese artists were working for Sakya patrons
the mandala within scrolling vine on a flower- Basel, 1984, pls. 29-31; Amy Heller “The Vajravali since at least the thirteenth century, when
strewn blue ground, a Sakya lineage in the upper Mandala of Shalu and Sakya: The Legacy of Buton Aniko (1245-1306) travelled from Nepal to fulfil
register, and dancing goddesses, protector (1290-1364)” in Orientations, Hong Kong, May a commission for the Sakya hierarch Phags-pa
deities and gods of wealth in the lower register, 2003, pp. 69-73; and Jeff Watt, himalayanart.org, (1235-1280). In the fifteenth century, as David
with the officiating monk to the right seated next set no. 2083, where Watt suggests the paintings Jackson reveals, Kunga Zangpo (1382-1456),
to a table bearing ritual offerings, with the title may have been dedicated to Lama Dampa Sonam who founded the Sakya order Ngor monastery
‘Mandala of the Five Dakas’ and numbered 26 Gyaltsen by his devoted student Chen-nga in 1429, commissioned itinerant Newar artists to
in an inscription beneath the offering table, a Chenpo (1310-1370). The series may thus have paint a series of Vajravali mandalas, see David
painted floral border to the left and right, both been commissioned around the time of Chen-nga Jackson, A History of Tibetan Painting, Wien,
edged with green silk, the upper and lower textile Chenpo’s demise in 1370, or possibly around 1996, p. 78. Compare the style and movement of
mounts now removed 1380 as a memorial to Lama Dampa. For further the Hevajra mandala’s dancing goddesses and
study of this Hevajra mandala see Jeff Watt, figures in the charnel grounds with the vignettes
Himalayan Art Resources item no. 13601. himalayanart.org, no. 13601. of the thirteenth century Sakya order Virupa in
33 by 29½ in. (83.8 by 75 cm.) the Kronos Collection painted in the Nepalese
The series represents perhaps the finest of all
PROVENANCE mandala painting from Tibet in the fourteenth style, see Kossak and Casey Singer, op. cit, p.
136, cat. 35; and the stylistic provenance in a
Acquired 1975. century. Each mandala is designed and painted contemporaneous Vasudhara mandala, formerly
with the same exquisite attention to detail and
The mandala is one of a set illustrating the vibrant palette. While the overall format and in the Stuart Cary Welch Collection, painted
Vajravali (Adamantine Garland) text. The dimension of the paintings remain the same by the Newar artist Jasaraja Jirili in 1365 for
Vajravali treatise was compiled during the throughout the series, the shape and size of the Nepalese patrons in the Kathmandu Valley, see
reign of King Ramapala (c. 1072 - c. 1126) by inner palace expands or contracts depending on Sotheby’s London 31 May 2011, lot 84; compare
Abhayakaragupta (d. 1125) of Vikramashila the iconographic complexity of each focal deity also figures within scrolling vine on a flower-
monastery in Eastern India, in which the Indian and the extent of their retinue. The artist of the strewn background of the late fourteenth or early
pandit describes the mandalas of esoteric deities Hevajra mandala had to extend the corners of fifteenth century Nepalese Chandra mandala
in specific iconographic detail. This painting is the palace walls to the outer limit of the ring of formerly in the Jucker Collection, see Sotheby’s
identified by inscription as depicting the Mandala lotus petals to accommodate the five individual New York, March 28, 2006, lot 3; and compare
of the Five Dakas — the five manifestations chambers within the palace grounds, which in the format and style preserved in fifteenth
of the meditational deity Hevajra — and is turn compresses the arches of the vishvavajra century Ngor monastery Vajravali mandalas
numbered twenty-sixth in a series of which gates, cf. the more voluminous vajra arches and documented as the work of Newar artists,
at least eighteen other paintings are known. compact palace grounds of the Jnanadakini see Kossak and Casey Singer, op. cit, p. 165-71,
All the known mandalas in the series depict mandala in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, see cat. 47.
Lama Dampa Sonam Gyaltsen (1312-75) at Kossak and Casey Singer, op. cit., p. 163, cat. 46.
the centre of the upper registers. The lama The gates of the Hevajra mandala are given added $ 800,000-1,200,000
wears monastic garments and a vajra master’s mass with double vajra prongs emerging from
crown, with his hands crossed at the chest in twin makara heads on each side of the gates: the
prajnalinganabhinaya holding the vajra and

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