Lot 158
158
A black ground thanka of Penden Lhamo
A black ground thanka of Penden Lhamo

TIBET, 17TH CENTURY

Details
A black ground thanka of Penden Lhamo
Tibet, 17th Century
The deity riding her mule through a sea of blood and fat, brandishing a sword, kapala, kalavinka and purba, a garland of severed heads draped around her shoulders and a sun disk at her navel, amidst an aureole of flames and three cavorting goddesses below, all outlined in gold and with red highlights
43 x 24 in. (109.2 x 62.2 cm.)

Lot Essay

Penden Lhamo is one of the major protector deities in Tibetan Buddhism and the only female among the eight Dharmapalas. She is believed to appear at lake Lhamo Latso, renowned for revealing on its surface the reflections of the future. For further discussion and a somewhat larger Penden Lhamo thanka in the John Gilmore Ford collection, see Rhie and Thurman, Wisdom and Compassion, 1996, cat. no. 115.