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Lot Essay
The inscription on the top of the painting may be translated as: "Homage to the 21-deity Vajrāmrita Mandala, which is the twenty-seventh Vajrāvalī Mandala". The inscription at the bottom of the painting may be translated as: "The Vajrāvalī Mandala was composed according to the measurements and so forth prescribed by Chankya Tulku Rinpoche and was offered out of pure intention by the twelfth prince Yintao".
This skillfully executed painting is likely to have formed part of a larger set of forty-four paintings depicting the mandalas of the Vajravali compendium. It may be compared with a related thangka from this larger set, Vajravarahi thirty-seven-deity mandala, circa 1740-1763, sold at Christie's New York, 16 September 2014, lot 288. This mandala had an inscription at the bottom of the painting also indicating that it was commissioned by Yintao, Prince Lü, the twelfth of twenty sons of the Kangxi Emperor, and iconographically designed by Changkya Rolpa'i Dorje. Changkya Rolpa'i Dorje (1717-1786) was the personal Buddhist teacher of the Qianlong Emperor and head lama in Beijing during the 18th century.
This skillfully executed painting is likely to have formed part of a larger set of forty-four paintings depicting the mandalas of the Vajravali compendium. It may be compared with a related thangka from this larger set, Vajravarahi thirty-seven-deity mandala, circa 1740-1763, sold at Christie's New York, 16 September 2014, lot 288. This mandala had an inscription at the bottom of the painting also indicating that it was commissioned by Yintao, Prince Lü, the twelfth of twenty sons of the Kangxi Emperor, and iconographically designed by Changkya Rolpa'i Dorje. Changkya Rolpa'i Dorje (1717-1786) was the personal Buddhist teacher of the Qianlong Emperor and head lama in Beijing during the 18th century.