CHOG ZING - GREAT TREE OF REFUGE OF THE GELUGPA SCHOOL, Tibet, 19th ct., Original brocade mounting, with protective cloth. Thangka as a tool for taking refuge, the essential Buddhist exercise, showing Buddha Shakyamuni on the top of the tree of refuge, surrounded by numerous tantric deities such as the thirty-five cleansing Buddhas, bodhisattvas, arhats, guardians, and the four protectors of worlds, with two groups of lamas, the Yogacara school to the right and the Madhyamika school to the left. Also shown are multiple holy sites as well as visionary apparitions of paradises on clouds - Property from an important German private collection of Tibetan art, assembled prior 1980 - Minor wear