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Lot Essay
This group of thangkas can be classed among the most magnificent examples of Tibetan art. The influence of eighteenth century Chinese painting is unmistakable therefore these works must be attributed to the schools of painting developed after the Kangxi emperor (1654-1722) had extended the Manchu empire to include Tibet. According to Giuseppe Tucci (see Tibetan Painted Scrolls, G. Tucci, Libreria dello Stato, Rome, 1949, p. 412) this Chinese style of painting suggests that the pieces can be qualified as works by the K'ams schools and painters who had experienced direct contact with Chinese practices. This initially happened most particularly in Tashilunpo and Lhasa where politics necessitated interaction between Chinese and Tibetan cultures. However, after Chinese authority had taken a firm hold of Tibet the Chinese manner ruled supreme in all areas.
It was on a set of fourteen thangkas cut in wooden-blocks between 1737 and 1854 at sNar t'an, that the painters of the set of thangkas under discussion would have based their designs. Their own artistic license limited to the masterly selection and application of colour. The fact that these thangkas compare favorably with the woodblock prints from sNar t'an can be seen by comparing 'Thangka B' with the woodblock print showing the King of Shangri-la adorned with an elaborate crown addressing the Kulikas and carrying out the command of the adamantine forces (fig. 1), the compositions are almost identical. The fact that the thangkas closely relate to the designs dictated by the woodblocks allows us to place them within the series which illustrates the various successive incarnations of the Tashilunpo lamas (see Tibetan Painted Scrolls, G. Tucci, Libreria dello Stato, Rome, 1949, p. 412). These incarnations, seven of which are represented in this set, are the ancient births of the lamas, both in India and in Tibet.
This set of thangkas painted to commemorate the religious origin of the Sixth Panchen Lama (1738-80) was painted after his death in 1780, when another woodblock would have been created in his honour at sNar t'an. In conducting a stylistic comparison of this set of thangkas with a set in the collection of the Palace Museum in Beijing dating to 1771 (fig. 2), it is evident how closely related they are. Although the paintings in the Palace Museum collection are slightly advanced in their detailing, which is to be expected given their Imperial provenance, the fine quality and similarities in the rendering of stylistic motifs as well as in the use of colour, suggest that these two sets are close in date. Therefore, it is probable that the set of thangkas under discussion dates to the late eighteenth or early nineteenth centuries. Moreover the silk-brocade mountings, which would have been applied in China are alike in design and quality, therefore this set of thangkas would have been intended for use in China either at the court or in a prominent temple.
Part of a similar set of paintings is illustrated in Tangka-Buddhist Painting of Tibet, The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Hong Kong, 2003, p. 10-33. Compare also two examples very closely related in style to the present lot both dated to the forty-fifth year of Qianlong (1780 A.D.), the first a portrait of White Manjusri, the Bodhisattva of Wisdom; the second a portrait of Vajrabhairava, illustrated in Cultural Relics of Tibetan Buddhism Collected in the Qing Palace, figs. 17 and 24 respectively.
It was on a set of fourteen thangkas cut in wooden-blocks between 1737 and 1854 at sNar t'an, that the painters of the set of thangkas under discussion would have based their designs. Their own artistic license limited to the masterly selection and application of colour. The fact that these thangkas compare favorably with the woodblock prints from sNar t'an can be seen by comparing 'Thangka B' with the woodblock print showing the King of Shangri-la adorned with an elaborate crown addressing the Kulikas and carrying out the command of the adamantine forces (fig. 1), the compositions are almost identical. The fact that the thangkas closely relate to the designs dictated by the woodblocks allows us to place them within the series which illustrates the various successive incarnations of the Tashilunpo lamas (see Tibetan Painted Scrolls, G. Tucci, Libreria dello Stato, Rome, 1949, p. 412). These incarnations, seven of which are represented in this set, are the ancient births of the lamas, both in India and in Tibet.
This set of thangkas painted to commemorate the religious origin of the Sixth Panchen Lama (1738-80) was painted after his death in 1780, when another woodblock would have been created in his honour at sNar t'an. In conducting a stylistic comparison of this set of thangkas with a set in the collection of the Palace Museum in Beijing dating to 1771 (fig. 2), it is evident how closely related they are. Although the paintings in the Palace Museum collection are slightly advanced in their detailing, which is to be expected given their Imperial provenance, the fine quality and similarities in the rendering of stylistic motifs as well as in the use of colour, suggest that these two sets are close in date. Therefore, it is probable that the set of thangkas under discussion dates to the late eighteenth or early nineteenth centuries. Moreover the silk-brocade mountings, which would have been applied in China are alike in design and quality, therefore this set of thangkas would have been intended for use in China either at the court or in a prominent temple.
Part of a similar set of paintings is illustrated in Tangka-Buddhist Painting of Tibet, The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Hong Kong, 2003, p. 10-33. Compare also two examples very closely related in style to the present lot both dated to the forty-fifth year of Qianlong (1780 A.D.), the first a portrait of White Manjusri, the Bodhisattva of Wisdom; the second a portrait of Vajrabhairava, illustrated in Cultural Relics of Tibetan Buddhism Collected in the Qing Palace, figs. 17 and 24 respectively.