A THANGKA DEPICTING KUNTU ZANGPO TIBET, CIRCA 15TH CENTURY |

the deity wearing just a loincloth, with hands in dhyana mudra, and seated in meditation on a lion throne, with halos behind, and a flowering vine to the sides, surrounded by the lamas and deities of the Drenpa Akar Gongdü lineage, and monks in the lower register wearing white elongated meditation caps, together with offerings and dancing laypersons Himalayan Art Resources item no. 73118.

Per Kvaerne, The Bon Religion of Tibet: The Iconography of a Living Tradition, London, 1995, pl. 12.

Canvas made of two section joined vertically at second column of figures in from left side. Some consolidation of blue halo around the central figure but no further restoration. Creases and losses throughout particularly center lower registers.
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A mantra on the reverse of the painting describes Küntu Zangpo in this form as a divine manifestation of the eighth-century sage Drenpa Nankha, often referred to by Bonpa simply as lachen, The Great Lama, see Per Kvaerne, The Bon Religion of Tibet: The Iconography of a Living Tradition, London, 1995, p. 119.  Black scrollwork on a blue background, as seen throughout this rare and early depiction of Küntu Zangpo, is a common device in central Tibetan painting in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, and often associated with Sakya paintings with Nepalese influence, cf. the background scrollwork on a sixteenth century Sakya mandala in the collection depicting Buddhakapala and Chitrasena, Buddhakapala, Mahamaya, Yogambara, Jnanadakini (see lot 937).