NEPAL, 16TH-17TH CENTURY

This unusual double-sided painting depicts a red-faced bodhisattva on one side and a similar, white faced bodhisattva on the other. The artist has attached a swath of Chinese-style brocade to the bottom of the painting, which has been cut into a human silhouette, ingeniously providing the form of the rest of the figure. Although the exact purpose is unclear, the two deities may represent the red and white forms of Padmapani, perhaps the most popular deities of the Kathmandu Valley and known generally as Lokeshvara (or Bunga Dya for the red version). Compare the present work with a similar double-sided figural-form hanging cloth, possibly the pair to the Huntington example, offered at Christie's London, 16 June 1987, lot 320.