A FINE AND RARE THANGKA OF THE WHITE TARA, East Tibet, 18th/early 19th ct., silk mounts. White Tara, the deity of compassion and longevity, is depicted here with seven eyes, her third eye on her forehead and four additional ones on the palms of her hands and soles of her feet, her right hand showing the gesture of granting every wish, her left hand showing the gesture of the union of wisdom and method. The three stretched fingers symbolise the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha. Together with Buddha Amitayus and Ushnishavijaya she forms the "Triad of Longevity". Buddha Shakyamuni appears in visionary clouds, with two patriarchs left and right, who can probably be identified as Atisha and Taranatha, at the bottom with a lama from the Kagyü school. - Property from an important South German private collection, assembled between 1968 and 2005 mostly from Schoettle East Asian Art and Joachim Baader, Munich - Published: Thangka Calendar 2002, A. Loseries-Leick, Windpferd Verlag, Title - Minor wear