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Lot Essay
Like lots 322, 323, and 325 from the Masterpieces of Early Tibetan Painting sale, this thangka of Amoghasiddhi would have been part of a set of five paintings depicting a mandala of Vairochana. In a single painting, a mandala is a circular diagram representing the celestial universe of a particular deity, surrounded by his entourage and attendant figures. As described in the Sarva Tathagata Tattva Samgraha, the Vajradhatu Mandala depicts the Five Families of Transcendent Buddhas, with Amoghasiddhi the head of the fifth family, associated with the north. In this set of paintings, the single mandala composition has been broken down in to five separate thangkas representing each family. For a full description of the Vajradhatu mandala and the iconography of this painting, please refer to lot 325.
While iconographically similar to lot 325, the painting makes evident the artist's fondness for rich details and sumptuousness of surface. Amoghasiddhi is richly adorned with raised gilt pastiglia in the various jewelry covering the torso and limbs and in the tiered crown that sits on his head. The elaborate and baroque folds of his multicolored dhoti are mirrored in those of his attendant bodhisattvas, Vajrakarma and Vajrasamdhi. Indeed, Vajrakarma at left is multicolored himself - aside from his natural white skin tone, he is also painted green, yellow, red, and blue. The intricacy of the painting extends to the torana as well, with the supporting elephants with painted trunks and foliate-patterned blanket and the rearing vyalis and the makaras at the top of the throne spewing beaded jewelwork from their mouths and emitting scrollwork from their tails.
While iconographically similar to lot 325, the painting makes evident the artist's fondness for rich details and sumptuousness of surface. Amoghasiddhi is richly adorned with raised gilt pastiglia in the various jewelry covering the torso and limbs and in the tiered crown that sits on his head. The elaborate and baroque folds of his multicolored dhoti are mirrored in those of his attendant bodhisattvas, Vajrakarma and Vajrasamdhi. Indeed, Vajrakarma at left is multicolored himself - aside from his natural white skin tone, he is also painted green, yellow, red, and blue. The intricacy of the painting extends to the torana as well, with the supporting elephants with painted trunks and foliate-patterned blanket and the rearing vyalis and the makaras at the top of the throne spewing beaded jewelwork from their mouths and emitting scrollwork from their tails.