A thangka depicting a Hevajra mandala, Tibet, 14th century | 十四世紀 藏傳喜金剛曼荼羅唐卡 設色布本

Collection George Sheridan (1923-2008), and thence by descent.

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George Sheridan（1923-2008）收藏，此後家族傳承

The painting depicts the mandala of the Sakya order meditation deities Hevajra and consort Nairatmya with eight dancing dakini within the mandala palace, surrounded by a circle of lotus petals, the eight charnel grounds and a ring of multi-coloured flames. Lamas and deities are depicted within roundels of scrolling vine around the edge of the mandala. The upper register depicts a Tibetan Sakya lineage with spiritual progenitor Vajradhara at centre among Indian mahasiddhas and pandita; the lower register with a presiding Sakya lama in the lower left beside an altar table, dancing dakinis at centre and Ganapati, Mahakala and Lhamo to the right with a siddha holding a trumpet and skull cup and seated on a corpse. Compare late fourteenth century mandalas painted in the Nepalese manner with an interlocking vine motif around the mandala circle such as the Jnanadakini in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, painted around 1380 in honour of the Sakya hierarch Lama Dampa Sonam Gyaltsen (1312-1375), in Kurt Behrendt, Mandalas: Mapping the Buddhist Art of Tibet, New York, 2024, pl. 101. Compare also the format of an early Sakya Hevajra mandala in Pratapaditya Pal, Himalayas: An Aesthetic Adventure, Chicago, 2003, cat. no. 130.

此幅薩迦派喜金剛與明妃無我母曼荼羅，構圖嚴整，色彩瑰麗，主尊結雙身相安坐於曼荼羅殿堂之中，周圍環繞八尊舞姿達吉尼。曼荼羅外圈依次繪蓮瓣環、八大屍陀林與多彩火焰圈，構成密教曼荼羅經典格局。整體圖像外圍飾纏枝卷草圖樣，間嵌諸神祇與上師圓光像，細節繁縟而層次分明。

畫面上方為薩迦派祖師系譜，中央為金剛總持，兩側為諸位印度大成就者與班智達，構成標準薩迦傳承體系。畫面下方左側繪一位主持儀軌之薩迦高僧，前置供案；中央為跳舞之空行母群像；右側則繪三位主要護法：象頭神、大黑天與吉祥天母，並見一位成就者持號角與顱器，坐於屍體之上，氣氛肅穆。

構圖風格上，與大都會藝術博物館所藏一幅尼泊爾風格晚十四世紀《智慧空行母曼荼羅》可資比較，該作約繪於1380年，為紀念薩迦派喇嘛·堂巴索南堅贊（1312–1375）所製，曼荼羅邊緣同飾纏枝紋，見 Kurt Behrendt，《Mandalas: Mapping the Buddhist Art of Tibet》，紐約，2024年，圖版101。另參見 Pratapaditya Pal，《Himalayas: An Aesthetic Adventure》，芝加哥，2003年，編號130，所載薩迦派早期喜金剛曼荼羅，結構與此作尤為接近。