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Lot Essay
Amoghasiddhi, like Akshobhya and Amitabha (see lots 202 and 203), is one of the Five Tathagatas, and like the others, this painting would have been part of a set of five depicting this group. Such sets of paintings were a visual development of tantric texts codified in Northeastern India during the Pala period, specifically the the Sarva Tattva Samgraha Tantra. This tantric text includes spatial descriptions of mandalas, including the Vajradhatumandala, the mandala of the Diamond Realm, with Vairochana and thirty seven deities. In theVajradhatumandala, the five painting set of Tathagatas to which the present example belongs is derived from a single composition of a circular mandala surrounded by palace walls. In the single painting composition, each of the Five Tathagatas is depicted as a patriarch of the Five Families of Transcendent Buddhas. As the principle deity, Vairochana occupies the center, while the other Tathagatas (Amitabha, Akshobhya, Ratnasambhava, and Amoghasiddhi) inhabit the quadrants associated with the four directions. Amoghasiddhi is associated with the Northern direction, and in a single mandala composition, is depicted in the right quadrant.
The group of paintings to which this work belonged was a visual deconstruction of the single Vajradhatumandala composition into five separate paintings. The Tathagata of each quadrant is depicted as the primary focus of a painting, and the associated deities found in his quadrant of the mandala are carried over to this form of the painting as well.
While in some of the five painting sets, not all of these deities are individualized, the present work is astounding in the level of iconographic detail. Amogasiddhi [1], seated at center, is rendered in a vibrant green with delicate shading that subtly models the body. The four bodhisattvas on either side of Amoghasiddhi's shoulders and knees [1-4] can be identified as the northern group of the sixteen vajra-bodhisattvas, normally found surrounding Amoghasiddhi in the single painting composition. The four bodhisattvas seated in a single row on either side of the Tathagata's head [5-8] in the present work are part of the Sixteen Bodhisattvas of the Fortunate Aeon, an additional group of bodhisattvas placed along the walls of the palace in the single painting composition. Vajravesha, the blue-skinned guardian of the Northern gate in the Vajradhatumandala, is seated below Amoghasiddhi holding his characteristic implements [9], the vajra and vajra-bell, while the offering goddesses of the Northeast, Nrtya and Gandha, are depicted standing at left and right [10-11]. Finally, the deities in the lower left and right corners, Yaksha seated on a horse and holding a mongoose [12] and Vaishravana dressed in armor [13], are associated with the North, while Ishana [14], holding a trident, is associated with the Northeast, and would also have been found in the right quadrant of the mandala.
While there are several Five Tathagata painting sets with generic bodhisattvas, the positive identification of the deities in the present work is extremely rare, and leaves no doubts that it belongs to a five-painting set of the Vajradhatumandala. For further discussion, see C. Luczanits, "On the Iconography of Tibetan Scroll Paintings (thang ka) Dedicated to the Five Tathagatas," Art in Tibet: Issues in Traditional Tibetan Art from the Seventh to the Twentieth Century (PIATS 2003: Tibetan Studies: Proceedings of the Tenth Seminar of the International Association for Tibetan Studies, Oxford, 2003.), 2011.
The group of paintings to which this work belonged was a visual deconstruction of the single Vajradhatumandala composition into five separate paintings. The Tathagata of each quadrant is depicted as the primary focus of a painting, and the associated deities found in his quadrant of the mandala are carried over to this form of the painting as well.
While in some of the five painting sets, not all of these deities are individualized, the present work is astounding in the level of iconographic detail. Amogasiddhi [1], seated at center, is rendered in a vibrant green with delicate shading that subtly models the body. The four bodhisattvas on either side of Amoghasiddhi's shoulders and knees [1-4] can be identified as the northern group of the sixteen vajra-bodhisattvas, normally found surrounding Amoghasiddhi in the single painting composition. The four bodhisattvas seated in a single row on either side of the Tathagata's head [5-8] in the present work are part of the Sixteen Bodhisattvas of the Fortunate Aeon, an additional group of bodhisattvas placed along the walls of the palace in the single painting composition. Vajravesha, the blue-skinned guardian of the Northern gate in the Vajradhatumandala, is seated below Amoghasiddhi holding his characteristic implements [9], the vajra and vajra-bell, while the offering goddesses of the Northeast, Nrtya and Gandha, are depicted standing at left and right [10-11]. Finally, the deities in the lower left and right corners, Yaksha seated on a horse and holding a mongoose [12] and Vaishravana dressed in armor [13], are associated with the North, while Ishana [14], holding a trident, is associated with the Northeast, and would also have been found in the right quadrant of the mandala.
While there are several Five Tathagata painting sets with generic bodhisattvas, the positive identification of the deities in the present work is extremely rare, and leaves no doubts that it belongs to a five-painting set of the Vajradhatumandala. For further discussion, see C. Luczanits, "On the Iconography of Tibetan Scroll Paintings (thang ka) Dedicated to the Five Tathagatas," Art in Tibet: Issues in Traditional Tibetan Art from the Seventh to the Twentieth Century (PIATS 2003: Tibetan Studies: Proceedings of the Tenth Seminar of the International Association for Tibetan Studies, Oxford, 2003.), 2011.