Page 28 - Bonhams March 22 2022 Indian and Himalayan Art NYC

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A PAUBHA OF BUDDHA WITH SCENES FROM HIS PAST LIVES
NEPAL, DATED 1801 CE
Himalayan Art Resources item no.4536
Image: 49 7/8 x 28 3/8 in. (127.2 x 72.2 cm)
$15,000 - 25,000

尼泊爾 1801年 佛陀本生故事博巴

Characteristic of Nepalese paintings, this large composition is tightly packed with horizontal and
vertical registers containing portraits and narrative scenes. In the center, Buddha Shakyamuni
appears before clusters of auspicious clouds, from which emerge blue-bodied Vajradhara and
two Gelug lamas. He is flanked by his two principal disciples, Maudgalyayana and Sariputra,
and further surrounded by scenes from his past lives. Within the top register, Prajnaparamita,
Medicine Buddha, and Rakta Lokeshvara (a meditation form of Avalokiteshvara) appear
between snow-capped mountains and piles of jewels. In the bottom register, the artist has
portrayed the donor’s family on either side of a white stupa. An inscription within the red-
bordered rectangle reveals the painting’s date and the donor’s name:

Bhāju Mānaju commissioned (this painting) to secure the Sukhāvatī heaven for his deceased
great-great-grandfather Dhaṃdeoju, great-grandfather Jñānaśrīju, grandfather Dhaṃmaju,...
father Dhanaju, and mother Vāgavati. This image was consecrated in (Nepal) Saṃvat 921, on
the full moon day of the Māgha month, Thursday, which was the very first death anniversary
(dakilā) of Bhāju Dhanaju, (Bhāju Mānaju’s) father...

A Hindu revival during the late Malla period (1482-1769) saw the royal patronage of Buddhist
monasteries and temples in Nepal decrease over time. Consequently, this paubha is one of a
very small group of Buddhist paintings from the early 19th century surviving in good condition.
Compare the treatment of clouds, aureole, and the busy composition to another 19th-century
paubha of Ushnishavijaya at the Rubin Museum of Art, New York (F1997.17.24). It is quite likely
that Bhāju Mānaju, the patron of the present painting, also commissioned an inscribed bronze
Buddhist triad sold at Bonhams, London, 8 November 2018, lot 250 (fig.1) given that both
artworks spanning 31 years commemorate a father named Bhāju Dhanaju.

Provenance:
Ex-Private Florida Estate

Fig. 1
A large gilt-bronze buddhist trinity group nepal,
dated 1832 and of the period
11 4/5 in. (30cm) high
Bonhams, London, 8 Nov 2018, lot 250

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