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Lot Essay
The beloved Tibetan saint, Milarepa sits here in his most recognizable pose, with his right hand cupped behind his ear, atop a spotted-bamboo meditation stool within a landscape filled with scenes of his journey towards liberation. This painting is particularly remarkable in the refinement of its many small narrative scenes, depicting some of the most dramatic episodes of Milarepa’s life. Despite containing sixteen vignettes, the artist successfully represents each of them with minimal, yet meticulously detailed content, and leaves a sprawling landscape with ethereal space reminiscent of the New Karma Garri style of the 18th century initiated by Chokyi Jungne (the Eight Situpa known as Situ Panchen, b.1700-d.1744) as well as the New Menri styles of Chamdo and Lhatok that emerged around the same time. The present thangka is, unquestionably, a masterwork of Tibetan painting born from this period in Kham Province (Southeastern Tibet). The hand of the artist, however, is unknown.
The compositional approach to narrative content, thinly applied pigments of pastel tones, and inclusion of New-Menri-style streams of water and blue and green crags are defining elements of the present work, yet the masterful hand of this artist is most evident in the unique style of drawing. Each figure is rendered elegantly, with elongated limbs, while also vividly animated. The set to which this painting belongs is therefore of a distinct style of exceptional quality that separates it from other more well-known sets depicting the same stories such as that at the Folkens Museum Etnografiska in Stockholm (see M. Rhie and R. Thurman, Wisdom and Compassion (Expanded Edition), New York, 1996/2000, p. 369, cat. 152).
Though there are other extant paintings from this extraordinary Milarepa set (one in the Nyingjei Lam Collection, C2002.7.1 and C2002.7.2 in the Rubin Museum of Art’s permanent collection, and two in private collections), the present painting is in far superior condition and has much greater fidelity to its original, very vibrant palette. The other published painting from this series of masterworks (that which is in the Nyingjei Lam collection currently on loan to the Rubin Museum of Art) depicts Milarepa at an older age (Fig. 1; published in both Melissa Kerin’s Artful Beneficence and Pratapaditya Pal’s Himalayas: An Aesthetic Adventure). The current painting is also distinguished by retaining nearly all the original gold inscriptions. The visual narrative flows in a noncontiguous manner, depicting scenes as they best fit.
The vignettes include his reputation as an amazing yogin spreading his knowledge; his encounter with a deer fleeing hunters and his preaching of the dharma to an incredulous group thereafter; his sister Peta’s first encounter with him in many years, when she urges him to abandon his extreme practices out of concern for his nakedness and lack of nourishment; his flight back from Minkyuk to Drakar Taso, during which he is spotted by the brother of his uncle’s daughter-in-law; Peta’s return to the cave with his formerly-betrothed, Dzese, bringing food and alcohol; his fall outside the entrance to his cave, his clay pot for nettle soup tumbling to the ground and breaking; his aunt’s visit to him, as she is filled with remorse for her maltreatment of his family and his sister’s attempt to thwart her visit by drawing back the bridge she needed to cross; Milarepa’s meeting with Zhiwa O and, later, with his female disciples in Choro Dritsam. Nearly all these stories are told in the most widely-read translation of Milarepa's life story: Andrew Quintman’s The Life of Milarepa by Tsangyöng Heruka (b.1452-d.1507). An image of the present lot is illustrated on the book's cover (Fig. 2).
The compositional approach to narrative content, thinly applied pigments of pastel tones, and inclusion of New-Menri-style streams of water and blue and green crags are defining elements of the present work, yet the masterful hand of this artist is most evident in the unique style of drawing. Each figure is rendered elegantly, with elongated limbs, while also vividly animated. The set to which this painting belongs is therefore of a distinct style of exceptional quality that separates it from other more well-known sets depicting the same stories such as that at the Folkens Museum Etnografiska in Stockholm (see M. Rhie and R. Thurman, Wisdom and Compassion (Expanded Edition), New York, 1996/2000, p. 369, cat. 152).
Though there are other extant paintings from this extraordinary Milarepa set (one in the Nyingjei Lam Collection, C2002.7.1 and C2002.7.2 in the Rubin Museum of Art’s permanent collection, and two in private collections), the present painting is in far superior condition and has much greater fidelity to its original, very vibrant palette. The other published painting from this series of masterworks (that which is in the Nyingjei Lam collection currently on loan to the Rubin Museum of Art) depicts Milarepa at an older age (Fig. 1; published in both Melissa Kerin’s Artful Beneficence and Pratapaditya Pal’s Himalayas: An Aesthetic Adventure). The current painting is also distinguished by retaining nearly all the original gold inscriptions. The visual narrative flows in a noncontiguous manner, depicting scenes as they best fit.
The vignettes include his reputation as an amazing yogin spreading his knowledge; his encounter with a deer fleeing hunters and his preaching of the dharma to an incredulous group thereafter; his sister Peta’s first encounter with him in many years, when she urges him to abandon his extreme practices out of concern for his nakedness and lack of nourishment; his flight back from Minkyuk to Drakar Taso, during which he is spotted by the brother of his uncle’s daughter-in-law; Peta’s return to the cave with his formerly-betrothed, Dzese, bringing food and alcohol; his fall outside the entrance to his cave, his clay pot for nettle soup tumbling to the ground and breaking; his aunt’s visit to him, as she is filled with remorse for her maltreatment of his family and his sister’s attempt to thwart her visit by drawing back the bridge she needed to cross; Milarepa’s meeting with Zhiwa O and, later, with his female disciples in Choro Dritsam. Nearly all these stories are told in the most widely-read translation of Milarepa's life story: Andrew Quintman’s The Life of Milarepa by Tsangyöng Heruka (b.1452-d.1507). An image of the present lot is illustrated on the book's cover (Fig. 2).