
Mark Rasmussen
International Director
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Sold for US$18,750 inc. premium
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International Director
西藏 十九世紀 銀質鏨花曼陀羅
This fine and intricate altarpiece depicts the human realm ('Jambu Dvipa') as it is arranged according to the Tibetan Buddhist worldview into four continents and eight subcontinents surrounding Mount Meru, its axis mundi. The 'four wealths' - jewels, wish-granting trees, wish granting cows, and abundant harvests are symbolized in parcel gilding between the continents.
The act of offering wealth to the universe is the highest ritual expression of devotion in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition. The practitioners create a 'grain mandala' of thirty-seven heaps of saffron-colored rice upon this circular base.
Published
Robert A.F. Thurman & David Weldon, Sacred Symbols: The Ritual Art of Tibet, New York, 1999, no.15.
Exhibited
Sacred Symbols: The Ritual Art of Tibet, New York, 24 March - 3 April 1999.
Provenance
Private European Collection