Page 70 - September 20th 2021, Indian and Himalayan Art Christie's NYC

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A PAINTING OF VAISHRAVANA 西藏 十八世紀 多聞天王圖
TIBET, 18TH CENTURY
28¡ x 20√ in. (72.1 x 53 cm.)
$40,000-60,000

LITERATURE:
Himalayan Art Resources, item no. 24683.

The present painting depicts Vaishravana, chief among the Guardian
Kings. Also known as the Four Heavanly Kings, or the Dharma
Protectors, the Guardian Kings are employed as keepers of the four
cardinal directions, with Vaishravana watching the North. The Guardian
Kings represent the first Indian gods to be incorporated into the
Buddhist pantheon, Vaishravana himself having descended from the
Hindu benefactor god Kubera. As a result, in addition to his tutelary role,
Vaishravana is at times admired as a wealth-giving deity. Vaishravana
can be easily identified by his common attributes, the bannered staff and
jewel-spewing mongoose cradled in his arm. Like depictions of other
Guardian Kings, he is depicted in the heavy, layered armor of a Chinese
warrior. This painting is likely one among a larger set of paintings
depicting Shakyamuni Buddha, the Sixteen Great Arhats, the patrons
Dharmatala and Hvashang, and the four Guardian Kings. Such sets
were common throughout the history of Buddhism in both China and
Tibet and the Guardian Kings were rarely painted as standalone works.
Compare the present work with an eighteenth century Tibeto-Chinese
painting of Vaishravana sold at Christie’s New York 20 March 2019,
lot 672, for $447,000. The sold lot closely resembles a painting of
Vaishravana from an arhat set at the National Palace Museum, Beijing,
see The Complete Collection of Treasures from the Palace Museum
59: Buddhist Painting of Tibet, Beijing, 2004, p. 204, cat. 189. Both
paintings indicate more traditional Chinese influences than the present
lot, including the use of unpainted raw silk as the sky, and the use of
bamboo shoots and a gnarling peach tree to frame the central figure.
The present lot incorporates elements of Chinese landscape painting,
such as the rendering of the rocky bluff that serves as Vaishravana’s
base; however, the work also retains Tibetan painting styles, such as the
flaming aureole framing wrathful deities, resulting in a more innovative A Painting of Vaishravana; Tibeto-Chinese, 18th century;
image 40 ¾ x 241/8 in. (103.5 x 61.4 cm.); sold, Christie’s
multilayered composition. New York, 20 March 2019, lot 672, for $447,000.