Page 187 - November 2016 London Bonhams asian Art

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A THANGKA OF TANGTONG GYALPO
Sakya School, probably 18th/19th century
Painted in the Sino-Tibetan style, the siddha of dark complexion
and clad in bright Tibetan monastic robes, his white hair in a high
chignon, holding an amphora in his left hand, the right performing
the teaching mudra, seated in padmasana on a lotus throne set on
a square dais adorned with embroidered drapery before a table with
offerings, the siddha surrounded by the five founding fathers of Sakya,
Ushnishavijaya and four further Buddhas floating around him against a
Chinese-inspired landscape, with two further Sakya adepts at his feet,
all set against repetitive rows of Buddhas. 108cm (42 1/2) x 72cm (28
3/5in)

£1,500 - 2,000
CNY13,000 - 17,000 HK$15,000 - 20,000

Tangtong Gyalpo Tsondru Zangpo (1385/61-1464/85) was a teacher
very closely related to the Sakya tradition, as well as the Jonang and
Shangpa Kagyu. The presence of the five founders of Sakya in the
present lot clearly indicates a Sakya provenance for this thangka.

A 19th century thangka of Tangtong Gyalpo is in the Rubin Museum
of Art, New York, acc.# P2000.2.2, and is illustrated by Himalayan Art
Resources, item no. 940.

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