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PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE PENNSYLVANIA PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE EAST COAST the seven precious emblems of royalty, to name
COLLECTION COLLECTION just a few.
Giuseppe Tucci. Tibetan Painted A THANGKA DEPICTING TWO A donor inscription written in ’bru tsha style is
Scrolls. Rome: La Libreria dello SAKYA LINEAGE HOLDERS also visible on the silk brocade:
Stato, 1949. Central Tibet, Ngor Monastery, 18th
Century This magni cent thangka painting along with
Two text volumes, folio. Comprising 25 color the canopy in the communal house of Minyak at
plates and 230 black and white photographic Himalayan Art Resources item no. 13413. Evam [Chöden Monastery] were donated by the
plates. Set number 703 of 750 numbered copies. image: 39 by 27 in. (99.1 by 68.6 cm) one born in Tibet, Lama Rinchen Lhündrup, for
Bound in red buckram gilt. Plates in matching red granting good fortune in this life and the next. May
buckram portfolio. Printed on Fabiano paper. This richly illustrated painting portrays two this be auspicious!
religious masters from the Ngor subsect of
$ 3,000-5,000 the Sakya tradition of Tibetan Buddhism. An It asserts that the present painting and a canopy
inscription written in dbu chen identi es the thirty- were o ered by a Tibetan lama to the communal
237 fourth abbot of Ngor Monastery in Central Tibet, house of the Minyak people at Ngor Evam Chöden
Pälden Chökyong (1702–1759), who held o ce Monastery. Like other major centres of learning in
bSod nams rgya mtsho. Ed. between 1733 and 1740. A long epithet describes Tibet, Ngor Monastery was composed of several
Musashi Tachikawa and Yonesuko him as an emanation of Vajradhara, the All- regional houses or colleges.
Higashi. Tibetan Mandalas: The Pervading Lord of the Hundred Buddha Families:
Ngor Collection. Tokyo: Kodansha, The donor, who per the inscription was born
1983. Homage to the All-Pervading Lord of the Hundred in Tibet, is identi ed as Rinchen Lhundrup.
According to Pälden Chökyong’s biography,
Two volumes large square folio. Text in English (Buddha) Families, Vajradhara Palden Chökyong. Rinchen Lhundrup served under the thirty-fourth
and Japanese, printed in red and black. abbot of Ngor as his domestic chaplain and
Comprising 139 large color plates. Silk bindings The title ‘vajra holder’ (vajradhara) is commonly master of ceremonies.
stamped in gilt. used to describe the great abbots of Ngor.
Bound in yellow and grey buckram gilt, with Incidentally, Buddha Vajradhara himself presides The back side of this painting bears two identical
yellow and black buckram gilt slipcases. Deluxe over all the gures at the top of this painting. consecratory inscriptions and mantras behind
edition of 480. The anonymous master on the left is likely to each hierarch. It includes the canonical Sanskrit
be Ngorchen Künga Zangpo (1382–1456) who formula, Ye dharmā hetu, written in Tibetan
$ 3,000-5,000 founded Ngor Evam Chöden Monastery in 1429. script, as well as the so-called ‘patience creed’
The attributes with which he is represented (red verse.
40 SOTHEBY’S pandita hat, vajra, and bell) generally conform to
other known representations. For extended essay with footnotes for further
reading, please see Sothebys.com
The whole composition is enshrined in the Sakya
tradition, headed by the ve great founders of Essay and translation by Yannick Laurent,
the Sakyapa order represented above the two Wolfson College, University of Oxford.
portraits. Other iconographical themes include
the ve protector deities in the lower register and $ 30,000-50,000
