A THANGKA DEPICTING VAJRAPANI TIBET, 17TH CENTURY |

Blue Vajrapani wielding a vajra in his right hand and ghanta in the left, in union with his consort standing in pratyalidhasana against a halo of fire, surrounded by protector deities, with Padmasambhava and Nyingma lamas above Himalayan Art Resources item no. 18320.

This fine example of Tibetan nagthang or black-ground painting contrasts subtle hues depicting the gods and masters against a dark foreboding background. Compare a nagthang painting depicting Mahakala, dating to the second half of the seventeenth century, from the Lionel Fournier Collection, see Gilles Béguin, Art ésotérique de l’Himâlaya: Catalogue de la donation Lionel Fournier, Paris, 1990, p. 133, pl. 74.