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Lot Essay
The following three thangkas illustrating Vajrayogini, Tara, and Hayagriva belong to set of paintings from Bhutan made in the nineteenth century. Stylistic parities with five other Bhutanese paintings once part of the Jucker Collection which sold at Sotheby's (H. Kreijger, Tibetan Paintings, Boston, 2001, pp. 128-131, no. 49; Sotheby's, New York, 28 March 2006, lots 126-130), confirm the coherence of the set in addition to their connection to the Drukpa Kagyu sect of Tibetan Buddhism and a source text for these images. On stylistic analysis alone, it may be difficult to distinguish this conclusively as Bhutanese, but together with the references of sect and textual reference, these three paintings, and those five others known to the set, illustrate the strength and continuity of the Drukpa Kagyu school within Bhutan.
Although dependent on Tibetan measurements of hierarchical compositions and symmetrical arrangements, some characteristics of Bhutanese painting style are exhibited among all the paintings including vibrant colors, clouds, flora and fauna, and composite layouts. Saturated colors of blues, greens, orange, reds, and pink depict an intensified palette. Varieties of clouds - cumulus, stratocumulus, and stratus - appear in greens, blues, orange, gray, and pink. A strong articulation of line is illustrated in the gold patterns of brocades, facial features, clouds, and foliage, offering a heightened clarity and distinction to each feature. Although shared elements exist among all the paintings in the set, it is clear that certain elements are more cohesive between specific paintings. For example the blue stratus clouds are illustrated in the Vajrayogini, Tara, Ekajati (HAR 89181), and Mahabala (HAR 89180), and the spiraling flames are depicted in the Hayagriva, Ekajati, and Mahabala, suggesting the making of these paintings by a regional atelier, rather than a single artist (Sotheby's, New York, 28 March 2006, lots 126 and 127).
Featured in the upper left corner of Shadakshari Lokeshvara is a Drukpa Lama, identified by the high-peaked, tall fan-shaped hat (Sotheby's, New York, 28 March 2006, lot 130). It is this feature that definitively associates the painting with the most prominent Buddhist order within Bhutan beginning in the seventeenth century when Zhabdrung Ngawang Namgyal (1594–1651) fled Tibet and established the Drukpa Kagyu as the dominant tradition. Support for this developing lineage in Bhutan included texts and their traditional accompaniment of imagery, such as this set of paintings, which is based on the manuscript "An Oceans of Methods of Accomplishment." Like many Tibetan Buddhist texts, the original scripture can be traced to India in the eleventh century, but the illustrated version here is based on an elaboration by the 9th Je Khenpo of Bhutan, Sakya Rinchen (1710-1759), where he extends the pantheon of deities. Each of these figures corresponds to the text and is identified by gold inscriptions in each of these thangkas.
Vajravarahi, the red tantric goddess is depicted here dancing amidst a retinue of magnetizing deities including various emanations of herself and Jambhala, Maitreya, as well as the "stream of gems" Vasudhara. Although Vajravarahi is typically depicted with a sow’s head or boar’s face, this attribute is absent here, despite the inscription identifying the goddess. Framed in a decorated blue halo and red-orange prabha, she strides in alidhasana trampling two figures below her feet. The goddess' body is adorned with a brocaded white sash which arcs across her upper body, a green sash which falls in a half-moon over her legs, white bone jewelry and a long sash of severed heads. She carries her three attributes of kartrika (hooked knife), kapala (skullcup), and khatvanga (ritual staff).
Each of the Vajravarahi emanations and the Black Jambhala are situated in a mirroring red-orange prabha like that of Vajravarahi. Of the other paintings from the set, only the Hayagriva imitates this compositional method, repeating the rightward moving flamed halos. Surrounding this constellation of deities are billowy cumulus clouds of greens, blush pink, coral, and white as well as elongated blue stratus clouds, jade-colored waters, and floating white skullcups filled with swirling amrita.
Although dependent on Tibetan measurements of hierarchical compositions and symmetrical arrangements, some characteristics of Bhutanese painting style are exhibited among all the paintings including vibrant colors, clouds, flora and fauna, and composite layouts. Saturated colors of blues, greens, orange, reds, and pink depict an intensified palette. Varieties of clouds - cumulus, stratocumulus, and stratus - appear in greens, blues, orange, gray, and pink. A strong articulation of line is illustrated in the gold patterns of brocades, facial features, clouds, and foliage, offering a heightened clarity and distinction to each feature. Although shared elements exist among all the paintings in the set, it is clear that certain elements are more cohesive between specific paintings. For example the blue stratus clouds are illustrated in the Vajrayogini, Tara, Ekajati (HAR 89181), and Mahabala (HAR 89180), and the spiraling flames are depicted in the Hayagriva, Ekajati, and Mahabala, suggesting the making of these paintings by a regional atelier, rather than a single artist (Sotheby's, New York, 28 March 2006, lots 126 and 127).
Featured in the upper left corner of Shadakshari Lokeshvara is a Drukpa Lama, identified by the high-peaked, tall fan-shaped hat (Sotheby's, New York, 28 March 2006, lot 130). It is this feature that definitively associates the painting with the most prominent Buddhist order within Bhutan beginning in the seventeenth century when Zhabdrung Ngawang Namgyal (1594–1651) fled Tibet and established the Drukpa Kagyu as the dominant tradition. Support for this developing lineage in Bhutan included texts and their traditional accompaniment of imagery, such as this set of paintings, which is based on the manuscript "An Oceans of Methods of Accomplishment." Like many Tibetan Buddhist texts, the original scripture can be traced to India in the eleventh century, but the illustrated version here is based on an elaboration by the 9th Je Khenpo of Bhutan, Sakya Rinchen (1710-1759), where he extends the pantheon of deities. Each of these figures corresponds to the text and is identified by gold inscriptions in each of these thangkas.
Vajravarahi, the red tantric goddess is depicted here dancing amidst a retinue of magnetizing deities including various emanations of herself and Jambhala, Maitreya, as well as the "stream of gems" Vasudhara. Although Vajravarahi is typically depicted with a sow’s head or boar’s face, this attribute is absent here, despite the inscription identifying the goddess. Framed in a decorated blue halo and red-orange prabha, she strides in alidhasana trampling two figures below her feet. The goddess' body is adorned with a brocaded white sash which arcs across her upper body, a green sash which falls in a half-moon over her legs, white bone jewelry and a long sash of severed heads. She carries her three attributes of kartrika (hooked knife), kapala (skullcup), and khatvanga (ritual staff).
Each of the Vajravarahi emanations and the Black Jambhala are situated in a mirroring red-orange prabha like that of Vajravarahi. Of the other paintings from the set, only the Hayagriva imitates this compositional method, repeating the rightward moving flamed halos. Surrounding this constellation of deities are billowy cumulus clouds of greens, blush pink, coral, and white as well as elongated blue stratus clouds, jade-colored waters, and floating white skullcups filled with swirling amrita.