A THANGKA OF FOUR MANDALAS FROM THE VAJRAVALI SERIES TIBET, 18TH CENTURY Distemper on cloth; with original silk mounts. Himalayan Art Resources item no. 31231 Image: 71 x 56.5 cm (28 x 22 1/4 in.) With silks: 115.5 x 71 cm (45 1/2 x 28 in.) Footnotes: 西藏 十八世紀 《金剛鬘》系四壇城唐卡 Published Okura Museum of Art, The World of Mandala-Tamashige Tibet Collection, Tokyo, 2005, p. 19, cat. no. 6 Exhibited The World of Mandala-Tamashige Tibet Collection, Tokyo, April 1-June 19, 2005 Provenance Tamashige Collection, Tokyo, acquired between 1987-2001 Sotheby's, New York, 19 March 2014, lot 116 John and Karina Stewart Collection This thangka depicts the final four mandalas of the 45-mandala Vajravali ('Garland of Vajras'), the tantric ritual compendium systematized by the Indian master Abhayakaragupta (c. 1064-1125). Read left to right and top to bottom, they comprise the Pancharaksha, or Five Protectresses (no. 42); six-armed Vasudhara, goddess of abundance (no. 43); Grahamatrika, 'Mother of the Planets' (no. 44); and Ushnishavijaya, goddess of long life (no. 45). The upper register shows Manjushri flanked by six former lives of the Tibetan master Taranatha (1575-1634): Ratan Bahula, Mahasiddha Krishnacarya, Barompa Darma Wangchuk, Rongzom Chozang, Ozer Pal, and Lhanangpa Sangye Rinchen, linking the work to the Jonang tradition. Between the mandalas appear Mahapratisara (beneath Manjushri), Grahamatrika, six-armed Vasudhara, and Ushnishavijaya; Four-Faced Mahakala appears at the base. The composition shares a similar configuration with a 15th-century Vajravali painting in the Kimbell Art Museum (AP 2000.01), sharing the same sequence and interstitial deities, but showing the principal mandala deities in place of the Five Protectresses. The mandala palaces are set within concentric bands of lotus petals, vajras, and flames, though in the present painting the interstitial figures emerge from cloud scrolls against a deep blue ground. The execution is stylistically different than that of the Kimbell prototype, but preserves its essential iconographic structure. For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com For further information about this lot please visit the lot listing