Page 284 - Bonhams Chinese Art NYC Nov 9 2017

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Image courtesy of the Mead Art Museum,
Amherst College, New England
282 | BONHAMS
A FINE THANGKA OF AVALOKITESHVARA
Central Tibet, 18th century
Distemper on cloth, depicting the female bodhisattva backed by a red
halo and a large mandorla, seated on a lotus base springing up from
a lively lake populated by ducks, fish and mysteriously shining jewels,
surrounded by The Eight Great Boshisattvas, further deities and lamas,
all within a mountain landscape, with original silk mount and lining, the
reverse with Tibetan inscription ‘om, ah, hum’.
64cm (25 1/4in) long x 43cm (17in) wide. With mount: 125cm
(49 1/4in) long x 79.5cm (31 1/4in) wide.
£15,000 - 20,000
CNY130,000 - 180,000
西藏中部 十八世紀 彩繪觀音菩薩唐卡
Provenance: an English private collection
來源： 英國私人收藏
This painting is a fine example of the Lhasa school of New Menri
painting, and very possibly part of a larger set of paintings, all depicting
Avalokiteshvara and the Eight Bodhisattvas, which also includes an
example from the British Royal collection, and two other works from
the Mead Art Museum in Amherst, Massachusetts.
The main figure depicted on this work may be identified as the
Khasarpana form of the Bodhisattva of Compassion, who according
to the descriptions of image visualisations, sadhanas, is characterised
by a white body and is seated in the pose of royal ease with the right
hand held open with palm facing outward in the vara mudra (gift
bestowing) gesture. Beginning at the top left and alternating from left
to right, the Eight Great Bodhisattvas, surrounding the main deity and
accompanied by gilded inscriptions, may be identified as follows: a
golden Manjusri in vara mudra, or blessing gesture, holding a white
lotus supporting the Wisdom Sutra surmounted by the sword of
discrimination, worshipped by a lama who gifts him with a mandala
and a white scarf; Samanthabadra, red in colour, holding a white lotus
and the long-life vase as he approaches a lama; Vajrapani, green in
colour, holding a lotus and a vajra; Akashagarbha, dark green in colour,
holding alotus supporting a flame-tipped sword; Avalokiteshvara, white
in colour, seated in a relaxed pose and flanked by two attendants, one
holding a Dharma wheel; Maitreya, gold in colour sitting with crossed
legs, his right hand in the abhaya mudra, or ‘have no fear’ gesture,
the left with a lotus supporting a Dharma wheel; Sarvanivarana-
Vishkambhin, seated in the lower story of a pavilion beside a lama.
Compare with two very similar thangkas of Avalokiteshvara, 18th
century, one in the British Royal collection, and the other in the Mead
Art Museum, Amherst, Massachusetts, illustrated in M.Rhie, Picturing
Enlightenment. Tibetan Thangkas in the Mead Art Museum at Amherst
College, Amherst, 2013, pp.52 and 76.
For details of the charges payable in addition to the final Hammer Price of each Lot
please refer to paragraphs 7 & 8 of the Notice to Bidders at the back of the catalogue.