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Lot Essay
This exceptionally fine thangka depicts Buddha Shakyamuni seated on a lotus that emerges from a fantastical stem at the center of a verdant landscape. Backed by a shimmering halo, Shakyamuni is surrounded by vignettes illustrating two classic Buddhist stories from the Avadana compendium. His hands are held in the teaching gesture known as dharmachakramudra. This mudra indicates that he is turning the wheel of the dharma—in this case, teaching two tales of Buddhist morality known as “The Story of Kanakavarman” and “The Story of the Householder Suddhodhana.” This painting is part of a thirty-nine-painting set depicting all one-hundred-and-eight classic teaching stories known as rtogs brjod in Tibetan (or avadana in Sanskrit). An inscription reading “nineteenth, right” on the verso of the top dowel, indicates this painting's orientation within the set of thirty-nine.
Striking in its clarity and vibrancy, this thangka is an outstanding example of the New Menri style of Tsang which originated at Tashilhunpo monastery in the seventeenth century by the hand of Choying Gyatso. The naturalistic clouds, rendered in blue, green, and pink, are hallmarks of this tradition, as is the placement of these clouds along the architectural elements that cover the landscape. Despite this painting’s age, the painted gold inscriptions identifying each scene are barely abraded and the silk mounts well preserved. A beautiful and complete rendition of the two Buddhist stories is fully intact in black ink on the verso. Compare with an eighteenth/nineteenth century thangka of similar subject and style in The Metropolitan Museum of Art (2016.304).
Translation of inscriptions on verso:
In the city known as Kanavati there was a son of the King known as Kanaka, named Kanakavarman. When his sister, known as Kanakaprabha, reached a mature age, she and the minister’s son came together without her father’s consent. The prince begged to save them from execution but he, too, was expelled for doing so. Wandering in the middle of an abandoned city, he encountered his sister. When he heard of her circumstances, the prince killed nearly all of the demons by arrow. The prince appointed his sister's husband as the king, at which time the father commissioned a messenger to request Kanakavarman to return to the kingdom and serve as Chakravartin. It was lord Buddha, in that birth, who was Kanakavarman.
In the past, a rich householder named Shuddhodhana, who sought to fulfill the poor, collected countless jewels by traversing oceans and mountains for 12 years. When he brought a pearl necklace to the King’s palace, his daughter repaid him with a melodious enlightened verse. Captivated by the elegant verse, without hesitation he offered an amazing gift of all his wealth in order to receive the Dharma. While learning the path, he was known as the householder Shuddhodana. The woman was Shariputra, who was born as the daughter of King Brahmadatta.
Striking in its clarity and vibrancy, this thangka is an outstanding example of the New Menri style of Tsang which originated at Tashilhunpo monastery in the seventeenth century by the hand of Choying Gyatso. The naturalistic clouds, rendered in blue, green, and pink, are hallmarks of this tradition, as is the placement of these clouds along the architectural elements that cover the landscape. Despite this painting’s age, the painted gold inscriptions identifying each scene are barely abraded and the silk mounts well preserved. A beautiful and complete rendition of the two Buddhist stories is fully intact in black ink on the verso. Compare with an eighteenth/nineteenth century thangka of similar subject and style in The Metropolitan Museum of Art (2016.304).
Translation of inscriptions on verso:
In the city known as Kanavati there was a son of the King known as Kanaka, named Kanakavarman. When his sister, known as Kanakaprabha, reached a mature age, she and the minister’s son came together without her father’s consent. The prince begged to save them from execution but he, too, was expelled for doing so. Wandering in the middle of an abandoned city, he encountered his sister. When he heard of her circumstances, the prince killed nearly all of the demons by arrow. The prince appointed his sister's husband as the king, at which time the father commissioned a messenger to request Kanakavarman to return to the kingdom and serve as Chakravartin. It was lord Buddha, in that birth, who was Kanakavarman.
In the past, a rich householder named Shuddhodhana, who sought to fulfill the poor, collected countless jewels by traversing oceans and mountains for 12 years. When he brought a pearl necklace to the King’s palace, his daughter repaid him with a melodious enlightened verse. Captivated by the elegant verse, without hesitation he offered an amazing gift of all his wealth in order to receive the Dharma. While learning the path, he was known as the householder Shuddhodana. The woman was Shariputra, who was born as the daughter of King Brahmadatta.