A Thangka Depicting Tsongkhapa with Two Kadam Lineages

The Koelz Collection, acquired in West Tibet by American biologist Dr. Walter N. Koelz of the Himalayan Research Institute of the Roerich Museum, 1930-33

Christie's New York, October 3, 1990, lot 107

The current work depicts the scholar and founder of the Geluk order of Tibetan Buddhism, Tsongkhapa Losang Drakpa (1357–1419) flanked by his two main disciples, Gyaltsab Dharma Rinchen and Khedrub Gelek Pelzang. A spiritual and intellectual revolutionary, Tsongkhapa is renowned as the author of such seminal texts as the Lamrim chenmo (The Great Stages of the Lamrim Path) and the sNgagsrim chenmo (The Great Presentation of the Stages of Tantra); as well as his complete revision of the understanding the Prasangika-Madhyamaka, still today the fundamental philosophical tenet system of the Geluk order.

In the immediate years following his death in 1419, many of Tsongkhapa’s patrons and disciples commissioned portraits of their late master. The current work is likely one such commission, created in West Tibet in the 15th century during the beginning of the Guge revival period, in which the local style with its powerful Kashmiri/Western Himalayan influence fused with Indo-Newari and Chinese stylistic elements popularized in Central Tibet.

In the current work, compare the long, elegant fingers and the narrow shape of the eyes of the three central figures, as well as the crenellated edges and red decoration of the lotus throne and the pictorial scene on the throne cloth to a late 15th century thangka depicting Shakyamuni Buddha from the Guge revival period, see M. Rhie and R. Thurman, Wisdom and Compassion: The Sacred Art of Tibet, San Francisco, 1991, 9. 87, cat. no. 6. Also compare a late 15th century wall painting of Prajñaparamita at Tholing in West Tibet for further examples of the elongated fingers, narrowed eyes, the crenellated edging of the lotus petals, and the red on white decoration of the lotus throne, see ibid., p. 57, fig 23. See also P. Pal, Art of Tibet, Los Angeles, 1990, p. 77, pl. 13 (P8) for an example of a similar cartouche depicting a donor and his ritual offerings; a panel depicting two deities beneath the lotus throne; the crenellated edging of the lotus petals; the arrangement of figures surrounding the central deity as well as the arrangement of lineage figures along the outer edges of the thangka. The unusual cartouche element below the lotus throne depicts the goddess Tara, the cult of whom was introduced to Tibet by Atisha, as well as a wrathful protector deity, possibly Shadbhuja Mahakala.

Although in the present work the individuals in the outer borders are not identified, we can infer from the composition that these represent the two Indo-Tibetan lineages of Yogachara and Madhyamaka, the legacy of the Kadampa tradition first propagated by Atisha, and later, by Tsongkhapa. These two lineages begin at the upper register: the Yogachara lineage descends anticlockwise from Shakyamuni Buddha at upper center; the Madhyamaka lineage descends clockwise from the same central point. For further discussion and similar compositions of Tsongkhapa with Kadam lineages, see two contemporaneous 15th century Tibetan paintings in the Rubin Museum of Art, acc. nos. F1997.31.14 and F1996.5.1.