A thangka of Avalokiteshvara, Qing dynasty, Qianlong period

Collection of Lionel (1943-2017) and Danielle Fournier.

Christie's Paris, 12th December 2018, lot 34.

The thangka depicts four-armed and eleven-headed standing Avalokiteshvara, with the five dhyani Buddhas above, Green and White Tara to the sides and six-armed Mahakala below.

The cloud and mountainous landscape design, and physiognomy throughout are evidence of a Beijing style in the second half of the eighteenth century, compare works painted for Bao-Xiang Lou pavilion in 1765, in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum: Tanka-Buddhist Painting of Tibet, Hong Kong, 2006, pp 263-85, and compare the gold flourish on the petals of Avalokiteshvara’s lotus pedestal with that on an eighteenth century Beijing thangka of Mahakala in the Qing Court Collection, ibid, p. 171, pl. 158.