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拍品專文
This rare and unusual painting, with its palette of vibrant colors on a deep red background, is part of a larger group of nine or ten paintings depicting the sixteen arhats and the Buddha Shakyamuni, and possibly including the patron Hvashang and the attendant Dharmatala. Although painting groups of the Buddha with the sixteen arhats are incredibly common in Tibetan art, there are no other known sets that are painted on a red ground like that of the present work. Another painting from the group, depicting the arhats Nagasena and Abheda, is illustrated by Pratapaditya Pal in Himalayas, Chicago, 2003, p. 258, cat. no. 170, and a third painting possibly depicting Ajita and Kalika is illustrated on Himalayan Art Resources, item no. 13637. At least one other painting from the same group is held in private hands, although at this time not published. The arhat at left in the present painting, holding a string of jewels, can be clearly identified as Kanakavatsa; the arhat at right, holding a fly whisk and making a pointing gesture might be identified as either Vanavasin or Vajriputra, who have similar iconographic representations.
Each painting depicts two of the sixteen arhats on blankets or cushions, attended to by a retinue of diminutive figures, all within verdant landscapes. All four paintings are also distinguished by four buddha images seated on lotus bases within banks of clouds at the top of the painting, with the two at center slightly higher than those in the corners. Many of the details of each painting, including the textile motifs and the edges of the rocky mountains and tendrils of the foliage are picked out in gold, creating an eye-catching juxtaposition against the deep-red background. Pal, in his discussion of the Chicago painting, suggests these red-ground paintings can be said to belong to the gser thang tradition in that they use gold to depict the figures, although most gser thang paintings are on black ground.The banks of clouds at top, carried out in greens, blues, and purples, as well as the swirling water at lower left follow closely the Chinese painting tradition of the early to mid-Qing dynasty, and while this group of paintings was likely created in Tibet in the seventeenth or eighteenth century, it clearly illustrates the syncretism of the Chinese and Tibetan painting traditions, particularly in the depiction of arhats, of this period.
Each painting depicts two of the sixteen arhats on blankets or cushions, attended to by a retinue of diminutive figures, all within verdant landscapes. All four paintings are also distinguished by four buddha images seated on lotus bases within banks of clouds at the top of the painting, with the two at center slightly higher than those in the corners. Many of the details of each painting, including the textile motifs and the edges of the rocky mountains and tendrils of the foliage are picked out in gold, creating an eye-catching juxtaposition against the deep-red background. Pal, in his discussion of the Chicago painting, suggests these red-ground paintings can be said to belong to the gser thang tradition in that they use gold to depict the figures, although most gser thang paintings are on black ground.The banks of clouds at top, carried out in greens, blues, and purples, as well as the swirling water at lower left follow closely the Chinese painting tradition of the early to mid-Qing dynasty, and while this group of paintings was likely created in Tibet in the seventeenth or eighteenth century, it clearly illustrates the syncretism of the Chinese and Tibetan painting traditions, particularly in the depiction of arhats, of this period.