A rare and fine silk appliqué thangka depicting three Buddhas, Tibet, circa 17th century

Sotheby’s New York, 20th - 21th September 1985, lot 167.

The thangka depicts Shakyamuni Buddha with hands in the teaching gesture (dharmachakra mudra) seated on a lotus flower emerging from the cosmic ocean, with two of the Thirty-Five Buddhas of Confession seated below either side of a golden butter lamp with flickering flame. Among the various iconographic traditions depicting the Confession Buddhas, this thangka appears to follow the Ludrub (Nagarjuna) system in which many of the Buddhas are identified with an individual attribute. The blue Buddha in the lower left holds a Victory Banner (dhvaja) and is likely to represent Indraketuvijaya, see Lokesh Chandra, Buddhist Iconography, New Delhi, 1991, 75; and the Buddha in the lower right may represent Varunadeva holding a begging bowl (patra), ibid., 62. Tibetans are renowned for their mastery of fine silk appliqué thangkas, using abundant monastic stocks of exquisite Chinese Yuan and Ming period textiles.