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Lot 3014
A RAKTAYAMARI MANDALA TIBET, 15TH CENTURY
19 March 2018, 15:00 EDT
New YorkSold for US$75,000 inc. premium
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A RAKTAYAMARI MANDALA
TIBET, 15TH CENTURY
Distemper on cloth; verso with "ohm, ah, hum" invocations behind the figures and a five-line Tibetan prayer; with original lacquered dowel rods and later silk mounts.
Himalayan Art Resources item no.100646
Image: 20 7/8 x 17 1/8 in.(53 x 43.5 cm);
With silks: 31 x 19 1/2 in. (79 x 50 cm)
Distemper on cloth; verso with "ohm, ah, hum" invocations behind the figures and a five-line Tibetan prayer; with original lacquered dowel rods and later silk mounts.
Himalayan Art Resources item no.100646
Image: 20 7/8 x 17 1/8 in.(53 x 43.5 cm);
With silks: 31 x 19 1/2 in. (79 x 50 cm)
Footnotes
西藏 十五世紀 紅閻摩敵壇城
Raktayamari is an emanation of Manjushri and a pivotal Vajrayana meditation deity centering on the cessation of suffering and unhappiness in the world. He appears with his consort, Vajravetali, at the center of his celestial palace encircled by rings of lotus petals and fire, seen from above. He is surrounded by a coterie of emanations including four gatekeepers of the mandala and four directional deities positioned at the cardinal points: red Raga Yamari, green Irshya Yamari, white Moha Yamari, and yellow Matsarya Yamari.
On the red veranda, on either side of the T-shaped gates, sixteen tiny offering goddesses frolic. Above them, looped garlands and streamers hang from the palace walls. Its tiered lintels rest upon the converging prongs of a giant macrocosmic visvavajra supporting the palace from underneath.
As Raktayamari's progenitor, the bodhisattva Manjushri appears in the top left corner, after the Primordial Buddha. He is the second figure within a teaching lineage, passing on the practice of Raktayamari. Virupa is the first mortal recipient in a line of Indian mahasiddhas and Tibetan monastic masters.
Outside the mandala's fiery perimeter, four other important aspects of Manjushri appear within roundels flanked by ancillary celestial couples. These are Manjushri Namasangiti in the top left, Krishnayamari with consort on the top right, Three-Faced Krishnayamari on the bottom right, and Vajrabhairava on the bottom left.
The register below begins with a monk-patron with hands in obeisance before offerings and three emanations of Yamari, followed by a host of worldly guardians deriving from Indian mythology, including Brahma on a goose, Vishnu on Garuda, and Ganapati on a rat. The register terminates with charitable Yellow Tara, associated with wealth and prosperity. This didactic painting depicts in beautiful and exacting detail a comprehensive history and symbolism of one of Tibetan Buddhism's most important practices.
Published
Pia and Louis Van der Wee, "A Thangka Mounted with Rods: A Secret Revealed", in Oriental Art, New York, 2000, Vol. XLVI, No.4.
Pia and Louis Van der Wee, A Tale of Thangkas: Living with a Collection, Antwerp, 1995, pp.121-122, fig.58.
Exhibited
De Taal van de Thangka, Ethnographic Museum, Antwerp, 1995.
Provenance
The Van Der Wee Collection, Belgium, acquired in Belgium, April 1966