Page 10 - Bonhams Indian and Himalayan Art March 2016 New York

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A SILK BANNER OF FORTY-FOUR INITIATION CARDS (TSAKLI)
Tibet, 16th/17th century
Distemper on cloth; each with an inscribed Tibetan verso and sewn
into the yellow and red silk panel with gold brocade.
4 x 3 1/8 in. (10.2 x 8 cm), each image
140 in. (355.6 cm), length of banner
$30,000 - 50,000

西藏 十六／十七世紀 四十四儀禮圖卡長幅

Thirty-nine of the cards depict various animal-headed wrathful deities The inscriptions on the back of each card indicate that the set
associated with the Nyingma traditon. Each ecstatically dances on originally functioned as initiation cards (tsakli) into tantric practice.
a prone human figure over a simple lotus platform. They wear tiger However, they seem to have been repurposed into a banner to
skins, and some with flayed human skins. They hold various attributes, decorate a meditation hall. In the Nyingma Tradition, the Guhyagarbha
and many with human corpses in their grasp. The additional five cards Tantra is considered the most important of all Tantras. The Terton
include the Karma Kagyu protector deities: Damchen Garwa Nagpo Karma Lingpa, in the 14th century, is credited with the discovery of
with tiger-skin bellows and vajra-hammer; Sri Devi riding a mule in an the ‘treasure text’ known as the Liberation Through Hearing in the
ocean of blood; Bernagchen Mahakala holding the chopper and bowl; Bardo (Tibetan Book of the Dead), a text intended to be read to the
Dorje Pegpa holding a fresh human heart and vajra, and Jambhala deceased and to influence a positive subsequent rebirth.
holding a mongoose disgorging jewels. Therefore, while the main
subject is Nyingma in origin, the donor-practitioner is Karma Kagyu.

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