Page 34 - Bonhams May 11th 2017 London Thangka Collection

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TWO RARE THANGKAS OF LAMAS AND THE LIFE OF BUDDHA
Eastern Tibet, 18th century
Distemper on cloth, the reverse with Tibetan inscriptions,
with cloth mounts, framed and glazed.
80 x 56 cm (31 1/2 x 22 in); with mount: 118 x 74 (46 1/2 x 29 1/8 in).
79.5 x 56 cm (31 1/4 x 22 in); with mount: 86 x 62 cm (33 7/8 x 24 3/8 in). (2).

西藏東部十八世紀 釋迦牟尼佛源流圖 一組兩幅

Referenced 參考: Himalayan Art Resource item nos.2203 and 2204

Provenance 來源: The Jongen-Schleiper Collection of Fine Thangkas

Published and Illustrated: A.Neven, Etudes D’Art Lamaique et de
L’Himalaya, Brussels, 1978, pp.94-95 nos.76 and 77 (only no.76
illustrated)

出版及著錄：
A.Neven著，《Etudes D’Art Lamaique et de L’Himalaya》
，布魯塞爾，1978年，頁94-95，編號76及77

These two paintings are very rare and unusual in their compositions. These two thangkas were most likely part of a series illustrating the
The central figures depict not the Buddha, but instead a Tibetan life of Shakyamuni Buddha. One thangka depicts on the right side
teacher or lama, and it is the secondary figures which depict of the composition scenes from the early life of Prince Gautama.
Shakyamuni Buddha and his life stories. An inscription found below The young prince is seated in a relaxed pose within a magnificent
the throne on one of the paintings identifies the central figure as palace entertained by dancers, musicians and attendants. Continuing
Drokun Gewa’i Shenyen (‘gro kun dga’ ba’i bshes gnyen), a 17th/18th clockwise, the young prince demonstrates his feats of physical
century Drugpa Kagyu Lama from Eastern Tibet. strength in a wrestling match, flies over water, participates in an
archery contest and races on a white elephant. Descending on the
The unique compositions as well as the strong influence of Chinese left side are scenes of the birth of his son Rahula and his engagement
painting on both these thangkas led Neven to argue that they were in reading and study. The reverse of the painting has the following
possibly made in a Tibetan Monastery in Beijing during the Qianlong inscription:
reign. He noted that the dragon thrones, the delicacy of the colours,
landscapes and architecture, all followed styles promoted by Rolpai སིྲད་པའ་ི དངསོ ་པ་ོ ཐམས་ཅད་ལས། རྒ་ཁ་ཡང་ཀནུ ་ཏ་ུ ཕན་བདེའི་གཏརེ ། འགོ་ྲ ཀནུ ་དགའ་བའི་བཤསེ ་གཉནེ ་གསིྱ ། སགུྡ ་བསལྔ ་སལེ ་ཕིརྱ ་ཕྱག་
Dorje (1717-1786) at the Qing court. See A.Neven, Etudes D’Art ཀངྱ ་འཚལ།
Lamaique et de L’Himalaya, Brussels, 1978, p.95.
‘From the entire substance of samsara,
Both paintings however, as we can tell from the inscriptions, are Even at the time of decline, remaining as a treasure trove of happiness
associated with the 18th century Drugpa Kagyu monastic centre and benefit,
named Khampa Gar, in Kham province, eastern Tibet. This style of The teacher who is liked by all beings,
painting can be referred to as the ‘Lhatog’ or ‘Khampa Gar’ style. In order to illuminate the suffering, even he would bow.’
The unique flavour of this style is that the backgrounds contain more
prominent Chinese landscape elements. See D.P.Jackson, The Place Translation by J.Watt & K.Gellek, February 2017.
of Provenance: Regional Styles in Tibetan Painting, New York, 2012,
pp.87-115.

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