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Lot Essay
Amitabha, the Transcendent Buddha of Immeasurable light, having a peaceful deity appearance, is red in color and seated in meditation with his hands folded in his lap. Although Amitabha is usually depicted in nirmanakaya form wearing the humble patchwork robes of a religious mendicant and devoid of ornaments, here he is adorned with sambhogakaya jewelry, his head surmounted by a crown, and his hair drawn up in a jatamukuta with tresses flowing over the shoulders. When in such princely appearance, Buddha Amitabha is called Amitayus, the Buddha of Immeasurable Life, identifiable by an overflowing vase cradled in the upturned palms. The presence of the ornaments with concomitant absence of the vase may indicate that the artist intentionally conflated Amitabha and Amitayus to fit within the set of five paintings to which this thangka belonged, or that the Buddha is shown as if in the process of transformation from the nirmanakaya (created body), which manifests in time and space, to the sambhogakaya, the bliss body composed of pure light. The artist has masterfully manipulated the pigments to endow the regal figure with a radiant appearance that simultaneously conveys immeasurable luster and immeasurable life.
The iconography of the Transcendental Buddha Amitabha/Amitayus is described in Mahayana sacred texts, with greatest attention given in the two Sukhavativyuha Sutras, and further forms of the deity prescribed in the Tantras. According to tradition, a monk named Dharamakara once made a series of forty-two vows, the eighteenth of which promised that after he had obtained buddhahood, all who had faith in him and who called his name would be reborn in his paradise and would reside there in bliss until they too had attained enlightenment. Having accomplished his vows, Dharmakara reigned as the buddha Amitabha in the Western Paradise, called Sukhavati, or the Pure Land. Amitabha is associated with the western direction, and accordingly he resides in the western quarter of the Maha Vairocana Mandala as it is described in the Sarvadurgati Parishodhana Tantra.
This painting of Amitabha belongs to a set of five paintings depicting the Tathagatas Amitabha, Ratnasambhava, Vairocana, Amoghasiddhi, and Akshobhya each in an individual painting accompanied by deities associated with their respective directions and surrounded by a field of miniature Buddhas replicating the main subject's mudra. Amitabha is flanked by the bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara to his proper right with white skin and holding a white lotus flower, and Maitreya to his left, yellow in color and holding the stem of a flower blossom supporting his water pot (kundika) attribute. As does the painting of Akshobhya (lot 202), stylistically the work draws upon multiple sources to convey the interactions between Pala India, Newar Nepal, and Tibet during a period of efflorescence in Buddhist art. Huntington suggests an earlier date for this painting, somewhere between the last quarter of the eleventh and first quarter of the twelfth century, based on comparisons with Pala sculpture from northeastern India, including features such as the tiered jatamukuta with billowing ties, the bejeweled triangular crown elements, the placement and treatment of the double-strand sacred thread, and the crossbeam on the back of the throne supporting hamsas issuing streams of gems (see detail, opposite page). For further discussion of possible Pala connections, see J. C. Huntington and D. Bandel, The Circle of Bliss, 2003, p. 104, cat. no. 15, and J. C. Huntington, "Early Tibetan Painting and the Bengal Connection," Orientations, 2003, pp. 32-40.
The iconography of the Transcendental Buddha Amitabha/Amitayus is described in Mahayana sacred texts, with greatest attention given in the two Sukhavativyuha Sutras, and further forms of the deity prescribed in the Tantras. According to tradition, a monk named Dharamakara once made a series of forty-two vows, the eighteenth of which promised that after he had obtained buddhahood, all who had faith in him and who called his name would be reborn in his paradise and would reside there in bliss until they too had attained enlightenment. Having accomplished his vows, Dharmakara reigned as the buddha Amitabha in the Western Paradise, called Sukhavati, or the Pure Land. Amitabha is associated with the western direction, and accordingly he resides in the western quarter of the Maha Vairocana Mandala as it is described in the Sarvadurgati Parishodhana Tantra.
This painting of Amitabha belongs to a set of five paintings depicting the Tathagatas Amitabha, Ratnasambhava, Vairocana, Amoghasiddhi, and Akshobhya each in an individual painting accompanied by deities associated with their respective directions and surrounded by a field of miniature Buddhas replicating the main subject's mudra. Amitabha is flanked by the bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara to his proper right with white skin and holding a white lotus flower, and Maitreya to his left, yellow in color and holding the stem of a flower blossom supporting his water pot (kundika) attribute. As does the painting of Akshobhya (lot 202), stylistically the work draws upon multiple sources to convey the interactions between Pala India, Newar Nepal, and Tibet during a period of efflorescence in Buddhist art. Huntington suggests an earlier date for this painting, somewhere between the last quarter of the eleventh and first quarter of the twelfth century, based on comparisons with Pala sculpture from northeastern India, including features such as the tiered jatamukuta with billowing ties, the bejeweled triangular crown elements, the placement and treatment of the double-strand sacred thread, and the crossbeam on the back of the throne supporting hamsas issuing streams of gems (see detail, opposite page). For further discussion of possible Pala connections, see J. C. Huntington and D. Bandel, The Circle of Bliss, 2003, p. 104, cat. no. 15, and J. C. Huntington, "Early Tibetan Painting and the Bengal Connection," Orientations, 2003, pp. 32-40.