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4. Maitreya, Lokesvara, Sitatapatra and Narrative Scene Tibeto-Chinese 18th c. Distemper on cloth with painted paper mount 106 x 172 cm. / 41 3/4 x 67 3/4 in. |
This somewhat formal painting presents leading hierarchs in the Gelukpa order of Tibetan Buddhism and three deities important to this order: Sitatapatra, Maitreya, and Avalokitesvara. Above Maitreya is the founder of the Gelukpa order, Tsong Khapa (1357-1419) and his two main disciples, Gyaltsab and Khedrub. Above Avalokitesvara and flanking the large lotus are Lha Lama Changchub O and Atisa (982-1054), important figures in the introduction of Buddhism to Tibet at the turn of the eleventh century. In its formality and in elements of style, the painting can be compared with a portrait of Tibetan Regent Demo Rinpoche, which is dated Kang Hsi iron sheep year (1667), now in the Rubin Collections. 79 This work has a paper painted mount, a highly unusual material for Tibetan painting, but one that is commonly found in China. This, together with the presence of Chinese temple architecture, and the somewhat Sinicised features of Maitreya and other figures suggest that this painting may have been made for Tibetan Buddhist centres in China, which flourished in the eighteenth century. 80 It probably pre-dates the second half eighteenth century painting of Third Panchen Lama Losang Penden Yeshe, also in the Rubin Collections, which shows a later stage of the style evident in the Demo portrait and in the painting under consideration. 81 Provenance: English private collection 79. Published in Rhie and Thurman, Worlds of Transformation, pp. 365-66. 80. Moreover, the Tibetan inscriptions use highly unusual spellings, indicating that the scribe was unfamiliar with the written language, or conversant with an uncommon dialect. 81. Published in Rhie and Thurman, Worlds of Transformation, pp. 367-68. |