A THANGKA DEPICTING A SAKYA LINEAGE HOLDER CENTRAL TIBET, 16TH/17TH CENTURY

the grand central figure with the pandita-style lappet hat of the Sakya lineage, with a gray pointed beard, wearing richly embroidered robes, holding a vase in the lowered right hand crowned with the goddess Ushnishavijaya and a lotus flower topped with a vajra and bell in the raised left hand, surrounded in the upper and lower registers by Margapala lineage holders and a retinue of wrathful deities

Private European collection, 1990s or earlier.

Wear, rubbing and minor creasing to pigments overall, particularly to white pigment. Wear to cloth overall, and along lower register and inscription. Some areas of consolidation to blue and green pigments.
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The present superb large format thangka depicts an unidentified Sakya lama from the Margapala lineage, installed on a magnificent lion throne protected by mythical beasts and the Guardians of the Four Directions, in front of which lie precious offerings including the chakraratna or precious wheel; lotus flowers, a bumpa or treasure vase filled with vajra, a large coral and an auspicious right-whorled conch, and triratna or triple gem vases at right and left. The ornate aureole which encircles the lama’s head is topped with a ratna or jewel finial, and elegant ratna garlands and tassels.

The deities, mahasiddhas and human lineages figures of the Margapala tradition fill the upper left and right register of the painting, including the wrathful deities Hevajra and Consort, Naro Dakini and Red Manjushri at upper left, and Chakrasamvara and Consort, Chaturbhuja Lokeshvara and Mahakala at upper right in spectacular detail. Several Sakya lineage holders, identified by the artist with partially legible Tibetan inscriptions, flank the central lama at left and right looking inward, holding jewels and religious manuscripts and wearing similarly elaborate robes and the lappet-style Indian cap associated with the Sakya tradition. The lower register portrays further Sayka lineage holders and a retinue of protector deities.

The overall style and visible lineage affiliation suggests that this painting hails from the seat of the Sakya lineage in Central Tibet, likely the famed Ngor Monastery in Tsang province. Compare the present work with another large format ca. 1700 Sakyapa lineage painting from Ngor Monastery in Central Tibet from the Zimmerman Family Collection, see Pratapaditya Pal, Tibet: Tradition and Change, Albuquerque, 1997, pp. 68-69, pl. 34. The long dedicatory inscription written in the Tibetan Ü-chen script at bottom register of the painting published in Pal (ibid.) imparts the commission of the painting by the resident lama at Ngor Monastery as well as the name of the artist, and may reveal clues as to the content of the partially legible dedicatory inscription at the bottom register of the present work.

Several additional paintings of Sakya lineage holders from Ngor Monastery comparable in scale, style and composition can also be found in American museum permanent collections, including the Rubin Museum, New York (HAR item no. 65362); the Newark Museum, New Jersey (HAR item no. 76014); and the Carlos Museum at Emory University, Georgia, which support the Ngor Monastery attribution.

Himalayan Art Resources item no. 12873.