TIBET, PROBABLY TASHILHUNPO MONASTERY, 18TH CENTURY

The white bodhisattva of one thousand heads, arms and myriad eyes astride at center, is known in Sanskrit as Sitatapatra. Her proper-left five hundred legs on the left side suppress a host of worldly deities and animals, while her proper-right five hundred legs suppress a host of worldly plights, demons and animals. The present work was likely produced at the great monastery of Tashilhunpo, one of the most important political, religious, and artistic centers of the seventeen and eighteenth centuries. Tashilhunpo became the home of the New Menri style of painting, created by the artist Choying Gyatso.