Page 34 - Indian and Himalayan Art Mar 21, 2018 NYC

ANOTHER PROPERTY
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A LARGE AND VERY FINE THANGKA DEPICTING
the placement of these clouds along the architectural elements that cover the
SHAKYAMUNI BUDDHA AND TWO CLASSIC BUDDHIST
TEACHING STORIES, AVADANA landscape. Despite this painting’s age, the painted gold inscriptions identifying
TIBET, 18TH CENTURY each scene are barely abraded and the silk mounts well preserved. A beautiful
40¿ x 23Ω in. (101.9 x 59.6 cm.) and complete rendition of the two Buddhist stories is fully intact in black ink on
the verso. Compare with an eighteenth/nineteenth century thangka of similar
$30,000-50,000
subject and style in The Metropolitan Museum of Art (2016.304).
PROVENANCE
Formerly in the collection of Andrew F. Chandler, Hancock Park, California. Translation of inscriptions on verso:
LITERATURE In the city known as Kanavati there was a son of the King known as Kanaka,
Himalayan Art Resource (himalayanart.org), item no. 24395
named Kanakavarman. When his sister, known as Kanakaprabha, reached a
mature age, she and the minister’s son came together without her father’s
This exceptionally fne thangka depicts Buddha Shakyamuni seated on a lotus consent. The prince begged to save them from execution but he, too, was
that emerges from a fantastical stem at the center of a verdant landscape. expelled for doing so. Wandering in the middle of an abandoned city, he
Backed by a shimmering halo, Shakyamuni is surrounded by vignettes encountered his sister. When he heard of her circumstances, the prince killed
illustrating two classic Buddhist stories from the Avadana compendium. nearly all of the demons by arrow. The prince appointed his sister’s husband
His hands are held in the teaching gesture known as dharmachakramudra. as the king, at which time the father commissioned a messenger to request
This mudra indicates that he is turning the wheel of the dharma—in this Kanakavarman to return to the kingdom and serve as Chakravartin. It was lord
case, teaching two tales of Buddhist morality known as “The Story of Buddha, in that birth, who was Kanakavarman.
Kanakavarman” and “The Story of the Householder Suddhodhana.” This
In the past, a rich householder named Shuddhodhana, who sought to fulfll
painting is part of a thirty-nine-painting set depicting all one-hundred-and-
the poor, collected countless jewels by traversing oceans and mountains
eight classic teaching stories known as rtogs brjod in Tibetan (or avadana in
for 12 years. When he brought a pearl necklace to the King’s palace, his
Sanskrit). An inscription reading “nineteenth, right” on the verso of the top
daughter repaid him with a melodious enlightened verse. Captivated by the
dowel, indicates this painting’s orientation within the set of thirty-nine.
elegant verse, without hesitation he ofered an amazing gift of all his wealth
Striking in its clarity and vibrancy, this thangka is an outstanding example in order to receive the Dharma. While learning the path, he was known as the
of the New Menri style of Tsang which originated at Tashilhunpo monastery householder Shuddhodana. The woman was Shariputra, who was born as the
in the seventeenth century by the hand of Choying Gyatso. The naturalistic daughter of King Brahmadatta.
clouds, rendered in blue, green, and pink, are hallmarks of this tradition, as is 西藏 十八世紀 釋迦牟尼佛教譬喻兩故事唐卡

(inscription on verso)