Page 37 - Indian and Himalayan Art Mar 21, 2018 NYC

312 THE PROPERTY OF A PRIVATE COLLECTOR
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A THANGKA OF TEN DISCIPLES OF GURU RINPOCHE
TIBET, 19TH CENTURY
21¿ x 16 in. (53.8 x 40.8 cm) A THANGKA OF ACHALA AND MAMAKI
TIBET, 19TH CENTURY
$6,000-12,000 18Ω x 13¡ in. (47.1 cm x 34 cm.)
$3,000-5,000
PROVENANCE
Collection of John G. Ford, Maryland, by 1976.
LITERATURE
Private collection, New York, acquired from the above in 1998.
Himalayan Art Resource (himalayanart.org), item no. 24396
LITERATURE
D. Lauf and J. Ford, Secret Revelation of Tibetan Thangkas, Frieburg, The blue-skinned couple, in union, foats above a lake on a lotus supported by
1976, pp. 112-3, pl. 35 two vajras. Bound to wisdom through Mamaki’s embrace, Achala cuts through
Himalayan Art Resource (himalayanart.org), item no. 73735 ignorance with his faming sword. In the blue sky above, the primordial buddha
Samantabhadra and his consort Samantabhadri form another perfect union.
This thangka depicts ten tantric adepts who have cultivated the power to defy The guardian kings of the four directions fank the couples on either side.
natural laws, such as: fying, walking on clouds, snatching birds from the sky, Painted in a provincial New Menri style, this esoteric yab-yum image is rooted
walking through rock formations, changing the course of a river, and reading in a sacred text of the highest yoga tantra class of Buddhism.
minds. All those depicted were direct disciples of Padmasambhava who is 西藏 十九世紀 不動明王唐卡
credited for bringing Buddhism to Tibet in the eighth century. This fnely painted
thangka is part of a three-painting set depicting all twenty-fve disciples.
The three-lobed light blue and green cumulus clouds with swirled, dark recesses,
are elements of Uri style painting (the New Menri style of U province). Previously
part of the Ford collection, this thangka was published in Detlef-Ingo Lauf’s 1976
publication entitled Secret Revelation of Tibetan Thangkas (Verborgene Botschaft
Tibetischer Thangkas).
西藏 十九世紀 蓮花生大師十弟子唐卡

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