A thanka of Padma Sambahava at Samye monastery

TIBET, 17TH/18TH CENTURY

Details

A thanka of Padma Sambahava at Samye monastery
Tibet, 17th/18th Century
With Padma Sambhava preaching in a hall before a congregation of lamas seated in diagonal rows before him, holding his attributes the vajra, patra, and katvanga, with royal attendants beside him, the floor outlined in a gold diaper pattern, all within an aerial view of the monastery set in a landscape, with a procession of lamas outside the precincts and numereous scenes set in a mountain and river landscape, with images of seated Buddhas above
46 x 33 in. (118 x 85 cm.)

Lot Essay

Padma Sambhava was invited to preach Buddhism in Tibet in the eighth century, was most influential in this role and subsequently deified. In the present thanka he is depicted at Samye monastery, founded by King Trisong Detsen in 775. Samye, like many other temple and monastery complexes, symbolizes the Buddhist universe in its mandala plan and the three stories of the central building were intended to be in three styles: Tibetan, Indian and Chinese. For a thanka illustrating a similar scene, but as a detail within a large portrait of Padma Sambhava, in the R. H. Ellsworth Collection, see Rhie and Thurman, Wisdom and Compassion, 1996, cat. no. 49.