Page 140 - Fine Chinese Art Bonhams London May 2018

115
A LARGE THANGKA OF GUANYIN AND
ACOLYTES
Sino-Tibetan, 17th/18th century
Distemper on cloth, depicting the Goddess of
Mercy with a halo, seated on a lotus throne holding
a rosary, dressed in red voluminous robes with
auspicious shou characters, the undergarment with
shuangxi characters, flanked by two attendants,
representing Shancai and Longnü, around them
issuing from bamboo are various Tibetan deities
and Gelug hierarchs, all against a background of
ruyi-head clouds.
317cm (124 7/8in) wide x 232cm (91 3/8in) high.

£35,000 - 45,000
CNY310,000 - 400,000

漢藏風格 十七/十八世紀 彩繪善財龍女拱觀音唐卡

The present lot is remarkable for its combination of
Chinese and Tibetan styles and themes. Although
the orbs of Gelug hierarchs and Tibetan deities,
as well as the materials used are firmly Himalayan,
the subject of Guanyin (or Avalokiteshvara) wearing
distinctly Chinese robes with shou (壽) and
shuangxi (囍) characters, flanked by both Longnü
and Shancai is more typical of Chinese religious
depictions rather than Tibetan.

Longnü, daughter of the Dragon King, and Shancai
are referred to in literary sources as acolytes of
Guanyin. The youths are each associated with
an important Buddhist sutra within the Mahayana
tradition. Shancai is thus mentioned in the
Avatamsaka Sutra as a young pilgrim who studied
with learned masters and celestial bodhisattvas,
while the Lotus Sutra described Longnü as an
eight-year-old girl who attains enlightenment after
presenting her precious pearl to the Buddha.

Stylistically, the bamboo leaves and and ruyi-head
clouds as well as the striking blue-and-green
background, were artistic devices incorporated by
Tibetan artists from Chinese Arhat and landscape
painting since the 15th century. For an extended
discussion on the sharing and overlapping between
Tibetan and Chinese painters and their depiction
of Arhats, see R.Linrothe, Paradise and Plumage:
Chinese Connections in Tibetan Arhat Painting,
New York, 2004, pp.10-40. For similar details of
bamboo in Tibetan paintings of Arhats, see Tangka-
Buddhist Painting of Tibet: The Complete Collection
of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Beijing, 2006,
p.215, no.200.

For details of the charges payable in addition to the final Hammer Price of each Lot
132 | BONHAMS please refer to paragraphs 7 & 8 of the Notice to Bidders at the back of the catalogue.