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A RARE FINELY EMBROIDERED SILK THANGKA OF AVALOKITESHVARA SAHASRABHUJA
This compelling form of the most widely-revered bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara, known as Chenrezig in Tibet, embodies unbounded compassion as an all-seeing and all-reaching deity seeking to assist every sentient being to attain nirvana. Eleven heads can be interpreted as corresponding to the eleven points of a mandala (its center, four cardinal points, four intermediate points, the nadir, and the zenith). They are arranged in five registers. The lowest register displays peaceful countenances; the next three registers present wrathful forms. Amitabha Buddha is the pinnacle. Each head represents an aspect of the compassionate deity, reflecting Avalokiteshvara's ability to meet benign and ferocious powers with comparable strength.
One pair of hands offers a namaste greeting, five more hold attributes: a rosary, a lotus flower, the Wheel of the Law, a bow and arrow, and a vase, while the eighth hand is in varadamudra. Stretching in a great arc around the figure are a thousand arms, each hand bearing an eye to symbolize his unhindered capacity to see.
The figure stands on a lotus rising from a pool set in a mountainous landscape. A yellow-hatted lama sits on a mat on a hillock to the left and a bare-headed monk sits on a hillock to the right. A ceremonial umbrella hovers in the cloud-filled sky above the figure. The five Dhyani Buddhas, plus the historical Buddha Shakyamuni, each supported by clouds, appear across the top of the thangka.
The floss silk embroidery using a combination of satin, long and short stitches with details and outlines worked in couched, now tarnished silver cord covers the entire surface of the thangka. The precision and fine scale of the work emphasizes contours and subtly creates the illusion of three-dimensional forms. The attention to detail and the meticulous execution reflects the highest standards of Qianlong-period imperial embroidery making the piece a fitting gift from the Qing court to Lhasa.
Two identical panels survive: one in the Metropolitan Museum of Art collection (accession number 30.75.34a,b) (1) is dated to 1778; the second, in the collection of the Victoria & Albert Museum (accession number 1479-1902), has a date of 1783 inscribed on one of the gilt-metal suspension loops (2). A related, undated panel of approximately the same date, formerly in the Myrna Myers Collection, Paris, has minute seed pearls and tiny coral beads accenting the jewelry of Yamataka Vajrabhairava and his consort Vajravetali (3).
John E. Vollmer
New York, February, 2014
(1) Unpublished
(2) Verity Wilson. Chinese Textiles, 2nd edition, London: V&A Publications, 2005, pl. 79. Waddell, L. Austine. The Buddhism of Tibet, or Lamaism. London: W.H. Allen & Co, 1895, pp. 356-57, illustration p. 15.
(3) John E. Vollmer. Silks for Thrones and Altars: Chinese Costume and Textiles from the Liao through the Qing dynasty, Paris, Galerie Myrna Myers, 2003, pp. 126 - 27, no. 66.
PROPERTY FROM THE ZIMMERMAN FAMILY COLLECTION
A RARE FINELY EMBROIDERED SILK THANGKA OF AVALOKITESHVARA SAHASRABHUJA
CHINA, QING DYNASTY, QIANLONG PERIOD (1736-1795)
Details
A RARE FINELY EMBROIDERED SILK THANGKA OF AVALOKITESHVARA SAHASRABHUJA
CHINA, QING DYNASTY, QIANLONG PERIOD (1736-1795)
The thangka is finely embroidered with a central figure of Avalokiteshvara Sahasrabhuja, dressed in elaborate robes and wearing jewelry around the neck and arms, shown with eleven faces and a thousand hands which stretch around the figure in a pointed arch, with an eye stitched in black on the palm of each hand. In the lower register, Jampal Gyatso, the eighth Dalai Lama, is shown holding a white lotus and a teacher is shown seated in the bottom right. Amitabha, Akshobhya, Shakyamuni, Vairochana, Ratnasambhava and Amoghasiddi are seated on clouds in the top register. The figures are set against a landscape of rocks and trees below scrolling clouds worked in gradient shades of pink and beige, which angle to a peak above the eleventh face. The thangka is decorated in vibrant shades of red, pink, blue, beige and green, and worked in long and short satin stitches with details and outlines worked in couched silver and gold threads, all on a silk twill ground.
29¾ x 20 in. (75.6 x 50.9 cm.), framed
CHINA, QING DYNASTY, QIANLONG PERIOD (1736-1795)
The thangka is finely embroidered with a central figure of Avalokiteshvara Sahasrabhuja, dressed in elaborate robes and wearing jewelry around the neck and arms, shown with eleven faces and a thousand hands which stretch around the figure in a pointed arch, with an eye stitched in black on the palm of each hand. In the lower register, Jampal Gyatso, the eighth Dalai Lama, is shown holding a white lotus and a teacher is shown seated in the bottom right. Amitabha, Akshobhya, Shakyamuni, Vairochana, Ratnasambhava and Amoghasiddi are seated on clouds in the top register. The figures are set against a landscape of rocks and trees below scrolling clouds worked in gradient shades of pink and beige, which angle to a peak above the eleventh face. The thangka is decorated in vibrant shades of red, pink, blue, beige and green, and worked in long and short satin stitches with details and outlines worked in couched silver and gold threads, all on a silk twill ground.
29¾ x 20 in. (75.6 x 50.9 cm.), framed
Literature
Dieux et Demons de l'Himalaya, Grand Palais, Paris, 1977, no. 296.
Tibet: Kunst des Buddhismus, Haus der Kunst, München, 1977, no. 16.
P. Pal, Art of the Himalayas: Treasures from Nepal and Tibet, 1991, New York, no. 116.
P. Pal, "Himalayan Textiles," Hali 61, February 1992, p. 108.
B. Bryant, The Wheel of Time Sand Mandala, San Francisco, 1992, p. 120.
A. Chayet, Le Grand Atlas de l'Art I, Encyclopedia Universalis, 1993, p. 125.
K.S. Brown, Eternal Presence: Handprints and Footprints in Buddhist Art, Katonah Museum of Art, 2004, p. 15.
Himalayan Art Resources (himalayanart.org) item no. 85116.
Tibet: Kunst des Buddhismus, Haus der Kunst, München, 1977, no. 16.
P. Pal, Art of the Himalayas: Treasures from Nepal and Tibet, 1991, New York, no. 116.
P. Pal, "Himalayan Textiles," Hali 61, February 1992, p. 108.
B. Bryant, The Wheel of Time Sand Mandala, San Francisco, 1992, p. 120.
A. Chayet, Le Grand Atlas de l'Art I, Encyclopedia Universalis, 1993, p. 125.
K.S. Brown, Eternal Presence: Handprints and Footprints in Buddhist Art, Katonah Museum of Art, 2004, p. 15.
Himalayan Art Resources (himalayanart.org) item no. 85116.
Exhibited
Dieux et Demons de l'Himalaya: Art du Buddhisme lamaique, Grand Palais, Paris, 25 March - 27 June 1977.
Tibet: Kunst des Buddhismus, 1994, shown at the following venues:
Grand Palais, Paris.
Haus der Kunst, München, Germany.
Art of the Himalayas: Treasures from Nepal and Tibet, 1992-1993, shown at the following venues:
Newark Museum, New Jersey.
Portland Art Museum, Oregon.
Phoenix Art Museum, Arizona.
Helen Clay Frick Museum, Arizona.
Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond.
Bowers Museum, Santa Ana, California.
Tampa Museum of Art, Florida.
National Gallery of Victoria, Sydney, Australia.
Melbourne Museum, Australia.
Australian Museum, Sydney.
Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth.
Musée Cernuschi, Paris.
Eternal Presence: Handprints and Footprints in Buddhist Art, 2004-2005, shown at the following venues:
Katonah Museum of Art, Katonah, New York.
Rubin Museum of Art, New York.
Tibet: Kunst des Buddhismus, 1994, shown at the following venues:
Grand Palais, Paris.
Haus der Kunst, München, Germany.
Art of the Himalayas: Treasures from Nepal and Tibet, 1992-1993, shown at the following venues:
Newark Museum, New Jersey.
Portland Art Museum, Oregon.
Phoenix Art Museum, Arizona.
Helen Clay Frick Museum, Arizona.
Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond.
Bowers Museum, Santa Ana, California.
Tampa Museum of Art, Florida.
National Gallery of Victoria, Sydney, Australia.
Melbourne Museum, Australia.
Australian Museum, Sydney.
Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth.
Musée Cernuschi, Paris.
Eternal Presence: Handprints and Footprints in Buddhist Art, 2004-2005, shown at the following venues:
Katonah Museum of Art, Katonah, New York.
Rubin Museum of Art, New York.