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Lot Essay
The present painting is a rare depiction of the Chinese master, Jampal Sangwa, also known as the venerable Gyim Shang. Jampal Sangwa was a master of astrology, and through his study of geomancy, was able to lay out the buildings of Samye Monastery, the oldest Buddhist institution in Tibet. Here, the venerable master sits in front of the gate to the completed monastery, and holds a Confucian manuscript on astrology while consulting a compass resting on the table in front of him. The Nyingma master, Padmasambhava, and the bodhisattva, Manjuvajra, sit on lotus blossoms amidst the clouds above, while the wealth deity, Jambhala sits on a conch shell over a lotus blossom in the bottom right corner. The depiction of the clouds and the composition of the painting, with the receding middle ground, are characteristics of 18th-century imperial Chinese Buddhist paintings, but the overall palette and the depiction of the figures is more in keeping with paintings from the province of Kham in Eastern Tibet, thus demonstrating the influence of the former on the latter at this time.