Mandala of Manjushri and the Pancharaksha Distemper on cloth Nepal or Tibet

The upper register with six-armed forms of Manjushri seated within pillared niches and flanking a multi-armed manifestation of Vajrasattva, with Hevajra Kapaladhara, Samvara, Hevajra and Yogambara within four trilobate arches outside the mandala palace, each with two attendant figures, the palace with four makara gates leading to the inner mandala with Manjushri in multiple manifestations, the lower register with Pancharaksha deities between the pillars of a colonnade.

Spink and Son Ltd., London

Amy Heller, Tibetan Art: Tracing the Development of Spiritual Ideals and Art in Tibet: 600-2000 A.D., Milan, 1999, p. 152, pls. 99-100

The painting with areas in relatively good condition for the period and areas of restoration and over painting. The area outside the mandala palace in better condition with some areas of minor inpainting - the upper and lower registers, the trilobate arched mandala groups in each corner outside the central circle all being essentially intact. The mandala gates and the ornamentation on the outer walls of the mandala palace are mainly intact with over painting in selected areas, particular parts of the gate on the right side of the mandala. Consolidation and over painting to the flame and lotus petal rings around the palace. Considerable over painting to the deities in the inner mandala with the central deities particularly affected, but some areas of original work remaining such as the deity in the upper left quadrant. The over painting is probably local, with later professional western conservation to even the tone of the local work.
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.

This rare mandala painting has been compared stylistically by Dr. Amy Heller with a renowned and important Nepalese Vasudhara mandala dated 1365 (or 1367), see Amy Heller, Tibetan Art: Tracing the Development of Spiritual Ideals and Art in Tibet: 600-2000 A.D., Milan, 1999, p. 152, pls. 99-100. The 1365(7) Vasudhara mandala has been published most recently in Dr. Pal's Chicago Himalayan exhibition, see Pratapaditya Pal, Himalayas: An Aesthetic Adventure, Chicago, 2003, p. 60, pl. 32. Dr. Heller observes architectural similarity in the four golden towers atop each gateway to the mandala palace, and the similar black and gold backgrounds of the gateways representing celestial space scattered with golden stars. Furthermore, both paintings have four similarly positioned trilobate arches housing deities and attendants outside the mandala palace at each corner. Dr. Heller argues that certain characteristics of the palace architecture are found in Nepalese mandala rather than Tibetan examples of the period. It is thus likely that the mandala was painted by a Nepalese or one schooled in the Nepalese traditions. There is, however, no inclusion of a Vajracharya puja scene at the left of the lower register that normally accompanies a painting commissioned for ritual practise in Nepal. While the style of drawing and architectural layout of the present mandala is clearly inspired by Nepalese traditions, a fragmentary inscription in Tibetan on the reverse may indicate that it was commissioned for ritual use in Tibet. Although it is usual not to include a reference to Tibetan lineage or to a religious patron in a Tibetan painting of this period, it is not unknown for these to be absent: a Tibetan Vajravali mandala in a private collection, also painted in the Nepalese style, has no lineage or patron represented, see Steven M. Kossak and Jane Casey Singer, Sacred Visions: Early Paintings from Central Tibet, New York, 1998, p. 167, cat. no. 47a.