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Lot Essay
This narrative composition is the design of Kagyu lama Situ Panchen (1700-1744) of Pelpung Monastery in Kham Province (Southeast Tibet), an important religious and artistic figure who is known for several widely-reproduced painting sets. This particular painting set, comprised of twenty-three compositions, depicts the one-hundred-and-eight classic teaching stories known as Avadana.
The first painting in the set depicts Buddha Shakyamuni and the last painting in the set is a portrait of Situ Panchen himself. The other twenty-one paintings depict tales of karma coming to fruition and the many virtues of Buddhist practice from a compendium composed by eleventh-century Kashmiri poet Kshemendra based on the earliest canon of Buddhist scripture.
This particular composition is identified, by an inscription in the upper margin of the canvas as “left, eleventh, jataka stories 43 through 48." The stories depicted are: The Pure Conduct of King Kanakavarna; Hiranyapani's Hands of Gold; Ajatashatru's Treachery; Kritajna Discovers the Power of Truth; The Trunks of the Shala Trees; and Sarvarthasiddha's Visit to the Naga Realm (see P. Chopel, D. Black, and Kshemendra, Leaves of the Heaven Tree: the Great Compassion of the Buddha, Berkeley, CA, 1997). The same composition can be found in the Rubin Museum of Art (accession no. C2002.2.1, Himalayan Art Resource, item no. 65033). For more information on these compositions see D. Jackson, Patron and Painter, Situ Panchen and the Revival of the Encampment Style, New York, 2009, pp. 26-28.
Himalayan Art Resources, item no. 24566.
The first painting in the set depicts Buddha Shakyamuni and the last painting in the set is a portrait of Situ Panchen himself. The other twenty-one paintings depict tales of karma coming to fruition and the many virtues of Buddhist practice from a compendium composed by eleventh-century Kashmiri poet Kshemendra based on the earliest canon of Buddhist scripture.
This particular composition is identified, by an inscription in the upper margin of the canvas as “left, eleventh, jataka stories 43 through 48." The stories depicted are: The Pure Conduct of King Kanakavarna; Hiranyapani's Hands of Gold; Ajatashatru's Treachery; Kritajna Discovers the Power of Truth; The Trunks of the Shala Trees; and Sarvarthasiddha's Visit to the Naga Realm (see P. Chopel, D. Black, and Kshemendra, Leaves of the Heaven Tree: the Great Compassion of the Buddha, Berkeley, CA, 1997). The same composition can be found in the Rubin Museum of Art (accession no. C2002.2.1, Himalayan Art Resource, item no. 65033). For more information on these compositions see D. Jackson, Patron and Painter, Situ Panchen and the Revival of the Encampment Style, New York, 2009, pp. 26-28.
Himalayan Art Resources, item no. 24566.