Page 42 - 2020 December 2 Bonhams Arts of Devotion bronzes and Stone carvings

1018
A THANGKA OF ARHAT VANAVASIN
TIBET, 17TH CENTURY
Distemper on cotton, with silk and gold thread brocade.
Himalayan art resources item no.88594
103.8 x 59.7 cm (40 7/8 x 23 1/2 in.)

HKD1,300,000 - 1,800,000

西藏 十七世紀 伐那婆斯尊者唐卡

In this refined Tibetan adaptation of a Chinese arhat painting, Arhat Vanavasin sits
within a paradisical landscape, joined by an attendant, a phoenix, and White Tara
above. Vanavasin can be recognized iconographically by his pointing gesture and
fly whisk. He is one of Sixteen Great Elders charged with preserving Buddha’s
dispensation until the advent of the Future Buddha, Maitreya.

The tranquil, idealized landscape evokes Chinese literati poetry, imagining the
Elders nestled among mountains, far from secular burdens. The polychromatic
phoenix serves to emphasize the environment’s celestial character. The blue-
and-green landscape style, comprised of gradated washes and contrasting
precise brushstrokes outlining the rocky outcrops, recalls the landscape painting
tradition of the Tang and Song dynasties. The attendant presents Vanavasin with a
‘scholar’s rock’, which had grown popular by the Ming dynasty.

The composition, layout, and color scheme of this work are based on an Arhat
set of twenty-three paintings commissioned originally by the Yongle Emperor as
gifts to the Fifth Karmapa in the early 15th century. Many copies of this famous
set were created in subsequent centuries, and even copied by other influential
Buddhist emperors, such as the Qianlong emperor in the 18th century. This topic
is discussed in good detail in Linrothre, Paradise and Plumage, New York, 2004. A
thangka of Arhat Vanavasin from the Qing court collection with a note written from
the Qianlong reign shows the persistent, faithful rendering of this set, as evident by
the present example as well (Wang ed., The Complete Collection of Treasures of
the Palace Museum: Tangka-Buddhist Painting of Tibet, Hong Kong, 2006, no.173,
p.187). Another, earlier Tibetan rendering of Vanavasin is HAR 23411.

Published
Jeff Watt, Tibetan Thangkas: Buddhist Paintings from the 17th to the 19th Century,
Hong Kong, 2018, no.3, pp.18-21.

Provenance
Private American Collection, 1970s
Private Asian Collection

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