Page 144 - Bonhams NYC Indian and Himalayan Art March 2019

917
A BLACKGROUND THANGKA OF YAMARI HERUKA
TIBET, 18TH CENTURY
Distemper on cloth; recto with Tibetan inscriptions in gold identifying the figures.
Himalayan Art Resources item no. 61889
22 x 16 in. (56 x 40.5 cm)

$15,000 - 20,000
西藏 十八世紀 忿怒文殊嘿嚕嘎黑唐卡

This excellently painted blackground thangka depicts Yamari Heruka of the Nyingma
School of Tibetan Buddhism. ‘Heruka’, means ‘blood drinker’, usually referring to male
wrathful deities who adopt a fierce countenance to benefit sentient beings. According to
the Nyingma lineage of Manjushri Mitra, ferocious Yamari Heruka embraces his consort
at the thangka’s center, rendered with his prescribed iconography of three faces and six
arms holding ritual weapons. He is surrounded by a detailed entourage of eight attendants,
identified by inscription as Dragtung Pema Dragpo, Yamari, Sangwa’i Dagpo, Kutrul Chidag,
Tugtrul Tsedag Nagpo, Sungtrul Sogdag, Yaksha Mebal, and Tamdrin.

Directly above Yamari Heruka are Vajradhara and Manjushri, flanked by lineage gurus. In the
top left corner are Manjushri Mitra, Tsuglag Palge, Vasudhara and Dricho Palchen. In the
top right corner are Dragtung Nagpo, Shanti Garbha, Sanggye Yeshe, and Longchenpa,
along with a Tibetan figure in monastic garb not named by inscription. The lower third of the
composition depicts various protector deities related to the practice of Yamari Heruka and
the Nyingma ‘Revealed Treasure’ (terma) traditions.

Compare a thankga of the same period depicting another Heruka, wearing a similar crown
and enflamed hair, sold at Bonhams, New York, 18 Mar 2013, lot 169. Also, see two 19th-
century thangkas of Shri Heruka in the Rubin Museum of Art, New York (F1997.12.2 &
P1998.15.1; HAR 194 & 702).

Provenance
Private New England Collection

142 | BONHAMS