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拍品專文
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.
Like the Vajravarahi thangka from this set, the semi-wrathful All Accomplishing Tara stands at center in alidhasana surrounded by a blue mandorla framed in a red-orange prabha. Each of her eight faces displays a turned third eye set between furrowed brows and fangs revealed through open mouths. Her sixteen arms carry a flaming sword, an arrow, vajras, a khatvanga, a stick, a hooked knife, abhaya mudra, an utpala, a skullcup, an arrow, a lasso, a goad, severed heads, the triple gem, and a long-life vessel. Skull crowns, a garland of severed heads, a double layered blue and a red brocaded dhoti of lavish seascapes and floral patterns ornament the goddess’ body. Like the Vajravarahi too, the surrounding retinue includes both semi-wrathful and peaceful deities.
While the cloud formations are heavily shaded in this thangka and the Hayagriva, the tonal variations along the lotus bases are amplified, as seen in the Shadakshari Lokeshvara, Green Tara, Manjushri, and Mahabala from the same set (HAR 89177, 89178, 89179, 89180). The same light blue spiral brocaded waves of the upper dhoti is shared with the Green Tara and the lyrical floral pattern of the lower layer of the red dhoti finds parity with that green scarf draped over the shoulders of the Shadakshari Lokeshvara.
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.
Like the Vajravarahi thangka from this set, the semi-wrathful All Accomplishing Tara stands at center in alidhasana surrounded by a blue mandorla framed in a red-orange prabha. Each of her eight faces displays a turned third eye set between furrowed brows and fangs revealed through open mouths. Her sixteen arms carry a flaming sword, an arrow, vajras, a khatvanga, a stick, a hooked knife, abhaya mudra, an utpala, a skullcup, an arrow, a lasso, a goad, severed heads, the triple gem, and a long-life vessel. Skull crowns, a garland of severed heads, a double layered blue and a red brocaded dhoti of lavish seascapes and floral patterns ornament the goddess’ body. Like the Vajravarahi too, the surrounding retinue includes both semi-wrathful and peaceful deities.
While the cloud formations are heavily shaded in this thangka and the Hayagriva, the tonal variations along the lotus bases are amplified, as seen in the Shadakshari Lokeshvara, Green Tara, Manjushri, and Mahabala from the same set (HAR 89177, 89178, 89179, 89180). The same light blue spiral brocaded waves of the upper dhoti is shared with the Green Tara and the lyrical floral pattern of the lower layer of the red dhoti finds parity with that green scarf draped over the shoulders of the Shadakshari Lokeshvara.