Rechigma distemper on cloth Bhutan

The following five lots, 126-30, from a rare and finely painted series of Bhutanese thankas depicting little known Drukpa Kagyu iconographic sequences. The Drukpa Kagyu hierarch in the top left hand corner of the Shadakshari Avalokiteshvara thanka, lot 130, links the series with the Kingdom of Bhutan. Since the seventeenth century the Drukpa have been the prominent Buddhist order in the realm. The provenance of the series of five paintings is confirmed by the use of Bhutanese woven silk for the lining of the thanka mounts. Compare the fine gold floral design on the deep red garments of Shadakshari Avalokiteshvara, lot 130, with those of Bakula and Pindola in two Bhutanese Arhat paintings in the Jucker Collection, lots 133 and 134.

Hugo E. Kreijger, Tibetan Painting, The Jucker Collection, Boston, 2001, p. 131, no. 49