A LARGE SILK APPLIQUÉ THANGKA DEPICTING PADMASAMBHAVA AND HIS TWO CONSORTS Tibet, 15th/16th Century

wearing a phoenix and cloud pattern blue silk robe beneath a red cloak, a cloud collar around the shoulders and silken boots, his emblematic cap with upturned lappets and sun/moon insignia, holding a vajra in his right hand and kapala in the left, a khatvanga resting against his left shoulder, seated in vajraparyankasana supported by a lotus flower, flanked by his consorts Mandarava and Yeshe Tsogyal, both seated in adoration on lotus flowers, all with halos and with the sun and moon above symbolised by the phoenix and hare

Sotheby's New York, 22 September 2000, lot 46.

Fading and accretion to silks and brocades overall as viewed. Scattered areas of staining and losses to silk mount along upper and bottom edge with small areas of later silk backing applied to stabilize losses throughout. Creasing and scattered minor losses throughout. Lined with modern silk backing and Velcro strip along top reverse for mounting.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Large appliqué thangkas are unfurled down the outer walls of monasteries or hillsides on particular festival days, where they provide a more durable medium for display in such circumstances than painted images. Chinese silk brocades and damasks are cut and sewn together to make the picture. Tibetan monasteries often had stocks of fine silks to use as required. A fifteenth century Imperial Chinese missive to a Tibetan hierarch, one of many such letters known, lists the accompanying tributes, "... 1 roll of red and 1 roll of green silk with fine flower and cloud patterns, 3 rolls of silk, 1 red, 1 blue and 1 green unpatterned, 7 rolls of natural colored silk, 1 civara of heavy Chinese silk ... 1 short jacket, 1 long gown, silk for thangka curtains ... ", see Heather Karmay Stoddard, Early Sino-Tibetan Art, Warminster, 1975, p. 80.

There is a long tradition in Tibet for the production of appliqué thangkas. Dr. Pal has noted that Rabten Kunzang, a Gyantse prince who died in 1442, commissioned what is said to be one of largest silk appliqué thangkas of Shakyamuni, see Pal, Himalayas: An Aesthetic Adventure, Chicago, 2003, p. 252.

Compare the style of a fifteenth or sixteenth century painted thangka of Padmasambhava in the Victoria and Albert Museum, see Auboyer and Béguin, Dieux et demons de l’Himâlaya, Paris 1977, p. 139, pl. 120, and compare the hair adornments and jewelry of Padmasambhava’s wives with an embroidered celestial musician in the Cleveland Museum of Art dating to the fourteenth century, see Watt and Wardwell, When Silk Was Gold, New York, 1997, p. 200, cat. no. 61.

Himalayan Art Resources item no. 12918