Footnotes

A THANGKA OF THE SEVENTH ABBOT OF NGOR MONASTERY, KONCHOG PEL
TIBET, CIRCA 16TH CENTURY

This finely executed thangka depicts the Seventh Abbot of Ngor Monastery, Konchog Pel (1445-1540). He is joined by Sanggye Rinchen, the Eighth Ngor Abbot (1450-1524) on the right, and Lhachog Sengge, the Ninth Ngor Abbot (1468-1535) on the left. Above them, red-bodied Avalokita Guhyasamaja appears in a solid blue sky, surrounded by six Sakya teachers, possibly the First-to-Sixth Ngor Abbots. At the bottom, yellow Jambhala, red Jambhala, and blue Jambhala form an entourage in primary colors against the green landscape.

The inscription on the reverse identifies the donor or commissioner of the work as Cho Gyatso: 'Konchog Pel, inseparable from the Lord of the Mandala, Sangye Rinchen, having reached the stage of accomplishment, Lhachog Sengge, indicating the path of liberation; To the Three Supreme Guides, I pray. In all my lives, I Cho Gyatso, pray to be accepted as a student.'

This thangka belongs to a set of which two other paintings are known. One of Shri Rakta Yamari (HAR 8) is in the Donald and Shelley Rubin Collection and the other of Shridhara (HAR 4479) is in the American Museum of Natural History, New York. An earlier Ngor portrait of Konchog Pel is in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (1971.189).

Provenance
Private European Collection assembled in the 1960s and 1970s