Chandra Mandala distemper on cloth Nepal

The paubha depicting the mandala of the moon god Chandra seated on a chariot flanked by elegantly dressed figures holding the stems of lotus flowers, with his charioteer Ambara holding the reins of seven geese, surrounded by forms of the moon god within and without the white eight point star structure, a stupa above, surrounded by a ring of deities representing the Twenty-eight Stars, the outer circle divided by palm trees into eight scenes relating to the cardinal points, a multi-coloured ring of flames enclosing the mandala, with Buddhist deities and auspicious emblems at each corner set within scrolling vine against a flower-filled background, a register of Buddhas above and the five Pancharaksha deities below flanked by the donor family to the right and a Vajracharya performing ritual to the left.

Hugo E. Kreijger, Kathmandu Valley Painting, The Jucker Collection, Boston, 1999, p. 34, no. 4.

This exceptional Nepalese mandala painting has much in common with the Newari style of the celebrated Yuan (1279-1368) kesi mandalas, see Watt and Wardwell, 1997, pp. 101-3, no. 26, a Tibetan Hevajra mandala from a private Swiss collection, see Pal, 2003, p. 200, pl. 130, and the superb series of late fourteenth century Tibetan Sakya mandalas see Heller, 2004, pp. 69-73, thus demonstrating the extended influence of the Newari artistic tradition epitomised in this paubha. The painting remains one of the finest Nepalese mandalas of the period. Compare elements in this painting, such as crowns and jewelry and chariot design, with those of a 14^th century Surya mandala in the Zimmerman Family Collection; see Pal, 1991, p. 70, no. 33. Chandra mandala paintings were especially popular in Nepal in this period, being commissioned at important and auspicious moments in the lives of both Buddhist and Hindu patrons. For another Chandra mandala in the Zimmerman Family Collection, see ibid, pp. 72-3, no. 35, and others in the Jucker Collection, see lots 5 and 13 below.