A rare and important early Ming kesi thanka, depicting Chakrasamvara and Vajravarahi China, Ming Dynasty, 1416-1435

the twelve-armed blue Samvara holding prescribed ritual implements and the severed head of the four-faced Brahma, with the feet of a flayed elephant skin in his uppermost hands, engaged in union with his prajna Vajravarahi, naked but for bone jewelry and a garland and crown of skulls, Samvara with a tiger skin apron, a necklace of severed heads and a garland and crown of skulls, with a crescent moon and visvavajra in his dark blue hair, Samvara stepping to his left in the alidha posture and trampling Kalaratri and Bhairava laying prostrate on a lotus, the pedestal supported by a stepped lion throne draped with an altar cloth bearing the bija syllable hrih, the deities framed by an arch of fire against a midnight blue ground, with Vajradhara above left and the Tibetan Gelukpa hierarch Shakya Yeshe (1354-1435) top right, Mahakala lower left and a red unidentified deity, possibly Hyagriva, lower right, the whole framed by a band of vajras and jewels on a red ground, the thanka supported within its original Chinese silk brocade mount with two silk protective veils, one inscribed with mantras, both now partially separated from the thanka

Dr. Wesley and Mrs. Carolyn Halpert Collection

Dayton, The Dayton Art Institute, Leaves from the Bodhi Tree: The Art of Pala India (8th-12th centuries) and Its International Legacy, 11 November 1989 - 14 January 1990, cat. no. 125; Baltimore, The Walters Art Gallery, 17 February - 15 April 1990; Newark, The Newark Museum, 22 May - 26 August 1990; Chicago, University of Chicago, The David and Alfred Smart Gallery, 9 October - 2 December 1990 Hong Kong, Hong Kong Museum of Art, Heavens Embroidered Cloths, 23 July - 17 September 1995, cat. no. 21.
Atlanta, Michael C. Carlos Museum, Emory University, May 1998, on the occasion of the presentation of an honorary degree to the Dalai Lama at Emory University, 11 May 1998.

S. and J. Huntington, 'Leaves from the Bodhi Tree: The Art of Pala India (8th-12th Centuries) and Its International Legacy,' Orientations, October 1989, p. 45, fig 21.
S. and J. Huntington, Leaves from the Bodhi Tree: The Art of Pala India (8th - 12th centuries) and Its International Legacy, Dayton, 1990, pp. 356-7, no. 125.
Urban Council of Hong Kong (publ.), Heavens Embroidered Cloths: One Thousand Years of Chinese Textiles, 1995, pp. 116-7, no. 21.
V. Reynolds, 'Silk in Tibet: Luxury Textiles in Secular Life and Sacred Art,' in J. Tilden (ed.), The Second Hali Annual, 1995, p. 93, fig 10.
V. Reynolds, 'Fabric Images and Their Special Role in Tibet,' in P. Pal (ed.), On the Path to Void: Buddhist Art of the Tibetan Realm, 1996, pp. 244-57, fig. 10.

The thanka constructed from a central kesi panel of Chakrasamvara, a brocade mount consisting of a blue and gold border in four sections, an outer border of nine red and gold brocade panels, with white, green and blue threads forming the open stitch-work decoration on the upper and lower borders, and two silk veils now detached from the upper edge with remains still attached to the thanka, the lower weighted rod now missing and the suspension rod also missing. An original strengthening filet remaining on the upper edge of the border and a possibly original leather suspension loop also still intact and now stitched down to the modern fabric covered stretcher supporting the thanka. Original green silk piping mostly intact on both sides of the red brocade mount and all stitched down to the modern fabric mount, and all protected within a Perspex box; the detached veils retained apart, and not shown within the box frame. The ksei panel in exceptionally fine condition, with very minor wear and loosening of the weave overall. A stain running from the upper right to the lower right of the flaming halo, clearly visible in the catalogue illustration. No restoration. The brocade mount with wear and some splitting and fraying overall, particularly in the lower section, as visible in the catalogue illustration. The color of the brocade faded from a blood coral and gold to a pink coral and gold, and very much in harmony with the coloring of the kesi panel. The veils faded with staining, splits and fraying. No observation possible of the back of the thanka, having been stitched down to a modern mount.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Four such early Ming dynasty silk kesi banners are recorded depicting esoteric tantric deities from the Tibetan pantheon. All, apart from the Chakrasamvara, remain in Tibetan monastery collections, with a Hevajra and Kalachakra in the Potala Palace, see China Nationality Art Photograph Publishing House, Gems of the Potala Palace, Beijing, 1999, p. 231, and Erberto Lo Bue, Tesori del Tibet, Oggetti d'arte dai Monasteri di Lhasa, Milan, 1994, p. 123, no. 81; and a Vajrabhairava in the Yumbu Lakhang Monastery photographed by Michael Henss in situ, 1987, see Christie's, New York, September 19th 2007, p. 79. All four kesi thankas have similar composition and are most likely to be a series, or at least to be from the same Chinese atelier. The Tibetan Gelukpa hierarch Shakya Yeshe is depicted in the top right of each thanka, just as he appears in the Chakrasamvara. The presence of a long-life mantra inscribed on the thanka's inner silk protective veil corresponding to the point where it covers the portrait of Shakye Yeshe would suggest that the thanka was made during the lifetime of the master. Shakya Yeshe was a close disciple of the leader of the Tibetan Geluk order, Tsong Khapa (1357-1419), and traveled to the court of the Yongle emperor (r. 1403-1424) as his envoy. He stayed three years from 1413 to 1416 in Nanjing, then the capital, where he was conferred the title of State Tutor. The court annals indicate that gifts were presented to him on his departure from the capital, which included Buddhist images and the distinctive black and gold five-leaf cap and cloak with which he is portrayed on this kesi banner, thus making 1416 the earliest possible date for the work. On his arrival back in his homeland he dispatched envoys with horses to the court of Yongle, at which the emperor sent more Buddhist images for Shakya Yeshe, see Heather Karmay, Early Sino-Tibetan Art, Warminster, 1975, p. 82. It is possible that these exchanges may have included the Chakrasamvara kesi, along with others from the series. As the portrait of Shakya Yeshe is included on the thanka it may be assumed that either he or his monastery was the recipient. Shakya Yeshe is also depicted on a number of early Ming dynasty silk embroidered banners, including an important Guhyasamaja-Akshobyavajra in the Potala Palace Collection, see Kulturstiftung Ruhr Essen Villa H¿gel, Tibet: Kl¿ster ¿ffnen ihre Schatzkammern, Essen, 2006, pp. 331-6, no. 55, where Bernadette Br¿skamp argues strongly for a date within the Yongle reign of between 1416 and 1419 for the embroidery. The kesi Chakrasamvara is stylistically very similar to the embroidered Guhyasamaja-Akshobyavajra, and may date from the same period. Shakya Yeshe returned to China in 1424, once more on the invitation of the court, only to arrive after the death of the emperor. He stayed on, however, and was received favourably by the Xuande emperor (r. 1426-1435) and further titles were conferred upon him. However, it is noted in the court annals that the extensive presentation of gifts to Tibetan leaders seen in the Yongle period was curtailed in the Xuande. It is certainly possible that the Chakrasamvara thanka was acquired during his second visit to China, for kesi was still produced in this period; for a Xuande period portrait thanka depicting Shakya Yeshe, see James C. Y. Watt and Anne E. Wardwell, When Silk was Gold, Central Asian and Chinese Textiles, New York, 1997, 204, fig. 88. But it is arguably more likely that the thanka was made during the Yongle reign when images of esoteric deities, such as the Potala Palace embroidered Guhyasamaja-Akshobyavajra, were relatively commonly produced in bronze and textile, unlike in the Xuande period. For marked Yongle gilt bronzes depicting Chakrasamvara, Vajrabhairava and Hevajra, see Sotheby's, Hong Kong, October 7, 2006, lots 810, 812, 814; and for an important Yongle marked embroidered thanka depicting Raktayamari, see Hong Kong Museum of Art, Heavens' Embroidered Cloths, One Thousand Years of Chinese Textiles, Hong Kong, 1995, p. 131, no. 25. Very few examples can be cited with Xuande mark. A gilt bronze bodhisattva with prajna is probably Xuande, although the dedicatory mark has been effaced, and a Mahakala on an inscribed Xuande lotus pedestal are amongst the few recorded tantric sculptures from the period, see von Schroeder, Indo-Tibetan Bronzes, Hong-Kong, 1981, p. 526, pls. 149B, C.

The artistic style, and indeed the painstaking weaving technique of the kesi thanka is rooted in the Yuan dynasty (1271-1368) where Anike, a Newar artist from Nepal, had been appointed Chief of All Artisan Classes in the Imperial Workshops in 1273 by the Chinese emperor Kubilai Khan (1215-1294). The Newar aesthetic had pervaded Tibetan art continuously from the thirteenth century onward and the Yuan and Ming artists and artisans were well versed in the Tibetan traditions. Early fourteenth century Nepalese influenced Chinese woodblock prints depict Buddhas seated on tiered and stepped thrones spread with altar cloths and supporting lotus pedestals, in much the same style as the throne base of the Chakrasamvara, see Heather Karmay, Early Sino-Tibetan Art, Warminster, 1975, p. 47, figs 26, 27. The composition of the kesi Chakrasamvara owes much to Tibetan and Nepalese thanka formats, cf. an exceptional circa fifteenth century Tibetan thanka in the Newar style, also depicting Chakrasamvara, now in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, see John C. Huntington & Dina Bangdel, The Circle of Bliss: Buddhist Meditational Art, Columbus, 2003, pp. 264-9, no. 71; note the close similarities in the shading of the blue body of Samvara, the ornate lotus petals of the pedestal and the tongues of flame surrounding the arch of fire behind the group. Indeed the style of these tongues of flame are closer in style to the Newar tradition than those seen on the court textiles, cf. Hong Kong Museum of Art, Heavens' Embroidered Cloths, One Thousand Years of Chinese Textiles, Hong Kong, 1995, p. 131, no. 25. The three-jewel design running around the border of the thanka is however an ubiquitous Yongle motif, cf. the throne base of the Speelman Buddha, see Sotheby's, Hong Kong, October 7, 2006, lot 808.

This unique and historically important early Ming kesi thanka of Chakrasamvara and Vajravarahi engaging in the perfect union of Wisdom and Compassion served as a device for the visualization of the Chakrasamvara tantra, literally Circle of Bliss. The tantra is a secret treatise with its origin in medieval eastern India, and is used by practitioners to increase their ability to attain the ultimate goal of Enlightenment; for a succinct discussion by Dina Bangdel on the content of the tantra, see John C. Huntington & Dina Bangdel, The Circle of Bliss: Buddhist Meditational Art, Columbus, 2003, pp. 264-8.