A THANGKA DEPICTING A MANJUSHRI MANDALA TIBET, SECOND HALF OF THE 14TH CENTURY |

Dharmadhatu Vagishvara, with eight hands holding vajra, ghanta, capa pasha, khadga, pustaka, seated in vajraparyankasana in the centre of the two-hundred and nineteen deity mandala from the Manjushri Namasangiti Tantra, the Buddhas of the Four Directions with attendants and consorts in surrounding panels each with similar attributes to the central figure, further deities throughout the palace, all contained within a band of flames, deities above and below and a Tibetan monk officiating to the right in the lower register Himalayan Art Resources item no. 18341.

Good condition for the period. A discolored surface film overall possibly a degraded original glaze. A stain through the lotus of the fourth figure in from the left in the upper register. A crease through the upper right and lower right quadrant, visible in the catalogue illustration. Other minor creases and losses throughout. In the upper left corner of the border, a 2 cm split. Pinholes throughout the border from stitching. Central figure and surrounding deities with considerable loss.
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Compare a Buddhakapala mandala with the same composition of scrolling vine encircling deities in each corner, the similar style of simple shrines for deities and lineage in the upper and lower registers, and the similar officiating monk in a red robe to the right of the lower register, see David Jackson, A Revolutionary Artist of Tibet: Khyentse Chenmo of Gongkar, New York, 2016, p. 308, fig. no. 13.4. Jackson identifies the Buddhakapala as a thangka from the Ngok tradition dating to the second half of the fourteenth century. Such close stylistic similarities with the Dharmadhatu Vagishvara mandala would suggest a similar fourteenth century date for the present painting. Compare also a fourteenth century Hevajra mandala, formerly in the Doris Wiener Collection, see Christie’s New York, 20 March, 2012, lot 124.

The stylistic origin of the mandala is the Newar painting tradition, as seen in a fourteenth century Nepalese Chandra mandala formerly in the Jucker Collection, see Sotheby’s, New York, March 29, 2006, lot 3. Compare also the floral and foliate designs in the corners of a Yuan dynasty (1279-1368) kesi Cosmological mandala based on Newar design, see James C. Y. Watt and Anne E. Wardwell, When Silk Was Gold: Central Asian and Chinese Textiles, New York, 1997, p. 101, cat. no. 26.