A Sino-Tibetan Thangka of the Sakyamuni Buddha Turning the Wheel of the Law


17th/18th centuryCentered by the golden skinned historical Buddha attired in flowing robes of red and gilt, the soles of his feet and the underside of his delicate hands shaded a gentle shade of pink; encircled by a lush mandorla of blooming lotus and flanked by two standing bodhisattvas of red and blue colors; all three main figures inscribed in gilt in Tibetan; facing an offering table supporting the Eight Auspicious Emblems flanked by opposing lions; the remaining area a blue and green landscape covered in eight sets of the Buddhas of the Five Directions arranged in seven horizontal rows; distemper on cloth (laid down), framed.46 x 30in (117 x 76cm) dimensions of image54 x 38in (137 x 96.5cm)
|Details of the work, including notably the exquisitely intricate gilt decoration on the robes of all the figures and the verdant green and blue landscape background, compare favorably with numerous examples of thangkas in the Palace Museum Collection: see Wang Jiapeng et al, Zangchuan Fojiao Tangka: Gugong Bowuyuan Wenwu Zhenpin Quanji [Tangka-Buddhist Painting of Tibet: The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum] (Hong Kong: Commercial Press, 2006). For just one example, see p. 9, cat. no 6 for a depiction of the Buddhist Philosopher Nagarjuna dated to the 17th century: the robes of Nagarjuna there and that of Sakyamuni in the present lot here have a notably similar design scheme both in terms of level of intricacy and overall composition. The blooming vines encircling the main figure also are rendered in a way similar to the vines in the present lot. See ibid, p. 127, cat. no 116 for an 18th century depiction of Sakyamuni, again attired in nearly identical robes, and also reflecting the interesting choice of painting a subtle difference in hue to the underside of the feet and hands.