Page 66 - Bonhams IMages of Devotion, Hong Kong Nov 30 2022

1023
A THANGKA OF PANCHEN LAMA, WENSAPA LOBSANG DONDRUP
TIBET, 19TH CENTURY
Distemper on cloth; recto with Tibetan inscription in gold on the bottom black
text box, translated: ‘Fifth left // At the feet of Dharma Vajra, I received teachings
and empowerment of the Great wheel of dharma / I bow to the feet of a lord, who
actually enslaved the karmic lord of death.’
Himalayan Art Resources item no. 4732
Image: 69 x 40 cm (27 1/8 x 15 3/4 in.)
With silks: 114 x 66 cm (44 7/8 x 26 in.)

HKD160,000 - 300,000
西藏 十九世紀 三世班禪恩薩羅桑丹珠唐卡

Wensapa Lobzang Dondrub (1505-64) was posthumously granted the title of the
Third Panchen Lama. He studied the Mahamudra teachings of Tsongkhapa with
Chokyi Dorje, who appears in a circular rainbow halo in the upper left corner of
the painting. Seated within an idyllic verdant landscape, Wensapa is surrounded
by a congregation of students ready to receive his instruction from the sutra
set before them. Appearing in the upper right corner is the Buddhist protector
Mahachakra Vajrapani floating in a blanket of clouds while in the bottom right is
Yama Dharmaraja emerging from brown, dense-packed flames.

This painting is an iteration of the famous Narthang Panchen Lama set, one
sold at Sotheby’s, New York, 16 March 2016, lot 739 and another located in the
Natural History Museum, New York (HAR 94423), for which they both share a
similar treatment in the clouds and palette with the present lot.

Provenance
Spink & Son Ltd., London, December 1984
Private New York Collection

64 | BONHAMS