Tibet, 18th century|Distemper on cloth; Aryadeva sitting on an animal skin displaying the gesture of debating, below smaller figures of Nagarjuna and Cakrasamvara, and above four-armed Mahakala, all surrounded by a detailed Chinese-style blue and green mountain landscape background, framed and glazed. |17 3/4in (45cm) height of image exclusive of brocade border32 1/2 (82.5cm) height of frame|A disciple of Nagarjuna, Aryadeva was a great Buddhist philosopher who composed several important texts including the Catusataka (400 verses). This painting was probably from a set of 12 thangkas depicting the religious origin of the Panchen Lamas. Another thangka of the same subject and almost identical composition is in the collection of the Palace Museum, Beijing, see Wang Jiapeng (ed.), Tangka-Buddhist Painting of Tibet, Hong Kong, 2006, p. 26, no. 22. ProvenanceLeo Van der Veen Collection, Canada, before 1975Thence by descent