Indian, Himalayan & Southeast Asian Works of Art
Indian, Himalayan & Southeast Asian Works of Art
PROPERTY OF A SWISS COLLECTION
Auction Closed
September 22, 07:46 PM GMT
Estimate
10,000 - 15,000 USD
Lot Details
Description
PROPERTY OF A SWISS COLLECTION
A THANGKA DEPICTING MANJUSHRI
TIBET, 13TH/14TH CENTURY
11 by 8 ⅜ in. (28 by 22 cm)
the four-armed form of Manjushri in orange and seated in vajraparyankasana on a throne decorated with foliate patterns and flanked by lotus pillars, the right hand wielding the sword of prajna, his secondary arms holding a bow in one hand and an arrow in the other, sutras resting on a lotus flower above the left shoulder, Buddha Shakyamuni seated above to the left, Vajrasattva seated above to the right, below guardian figures ride on horses and three devotees pay homage in the lower right
Himalayan Art Resources item no. 13713.
Acquired in Tibet by Augusti Gansser-Biaggi, 1937, thence by descent
Olschak, Blanche Christine, Mystic Art of Ancient Tibet, Boston and London, 1987, p. 52.
This painting was discovered by the Swiss geologist Augusti Gansser-Biaggi (1910-2012) on an expedition in the Himalayas. To survey the area around Mt. Kailish, Gansser dressed as a Buddhist pilgrim as a means to permit his entry into the region. It was on this expedition, in a sunken cave monastery in the valley of the Sib-Chu river, situated west of Mt. Kailash, that Gansser-Biaggi discovered this and three other thangkas of the early western Tibetan style. For illustrations of the other paintings, see B. C. Olschak, Mystic Art of Ancient Tibet, Boston and London, 1987, pp. 50-52.
