A FINE THANGKA OF THE MEDICINE BUDDHA ASHOKOTTAMASHRI, Bhutan, late 18th ct., silk mounts. This thangka probably stems from a series of the Eight Medicine Buddhas and their attendants, the one shown here would be the fourth of seven attendants of the Medicine Buddha Bhaishajyaguru. Multiple teachers of the Tibetan medicine doctrine can be seen as well, holding books, depicted in the upper part of the painting. Above the central Buddha is a stupa, itself the third in a sequence of eight relics stupas, which are supposed to remind the viewer of the eight main events in the life of the Buddha, named 'gomang stupa' (stupa of the many doors). With inscriptions on the back, reading: 'At the time when the dharma wheel was being turned, the auspicious gomang stupa was erected.' and 'Ming the thorough meditation of the red colour. The four wishing prayers will be fulfilled through talking about the glorious attachments of merit and wisdom." - Property from an important South German private collection, assembled between 1968 and 2005 mostly from Schoettle East Asian Art and Joachim Baader, Munich - Publ. Tibetica 25, D. I. Lauf, Schoettle Ostasiatica Stuttgart; October 1973: 8153; Publ. Thangka Calender 2013, January, Wisdom, Dec. 2012, Description by Dr. Olaf Czaja - Cf. Iconography: Weisheit und Liebe - 1000 Jahre Kunst des Tibetischen Buddhismus; Marylin M. Rhie/Robert A. F. Thurmann; DuMont , Köln, 1996: 134 - Wear