Page 68 - Bonhams Indian and Himalayan Art March 2016 New York

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A BON THANKGA OF A MAGYU DEITY
Eastern Tibet, 18th century
Distemper on cloth; verso with a large drawing of a Khandroma and its extreme bottom edge
with an identifying Tibetan inscription translated, ‘The collection of deities of the secret Magyu’.
Image: 31 1/2 X 24 7/8 in. (80 x 63.2 cm);
With silks: 64 x 36 3/4 in. (162.5 x 93.3 cm)
$30,000 - 50,000

西藏東部 十八世紀 苯教母續雙身佛唐卡
A composition of exceptional quality, especially among Bon po paintings, both figure and
landscape are rendered with great precision and energy. The face and limbs of the central
Magyu deity are shaded to impress a three-dimensionality. The texture of his tiger skin, its
paws, and nails are meticulously detailed. The back of the painting has a finely executed
drawing of one of the Magyu cycle’s six Khandroma dancing before a scrolling aureole.
(For thangkas of the six Khandroma, see himalayanart.org/search/set.cfm?setID=1216.)
Belonging to a set of thangkas depicting the main deities of the Bon Magyu meditation
practice, this painting’s central deity is one of the principle retinue figures surrounding Magyu
Sangchog Tartug, the chief deity of the ‘Mother Tantras’. The Bon po Mother Tantras are
believed to have been transmitted to humans through Zangsa Ringtsun, a half-human-half-
goddess manifestation of Satrig Ersang, the wisdom deity. For more information, see Kværne,
The Bon Religion of Tibet, Boston, 1996, p.74.
In appearance, he is not unlike the Buddhist deities Hevajra or Chakrasamvara. An adoring
retinue shower them with petals. He and his consort trample prone figures above an elephant
throne. Below stands lion-faced Mikar Sengge Gochen, one of the Four Directional Guardians.
For bon po thangkas of Magyu, see ibid, p.87, pl.24; himalayanart.org/items/ 98998; and
himalayanart.org/items/85522.
Referenced
HAR - himalayanart.org/items/61456
Provenance
Private Collection, Los Angeles before 1990
Private Californian Collection since 1991
Private Collection, California, acquired from the above

66 | BONHAMS