A thangka depicting Amitabha in Sukhavati, Eastern Tibet, 18th century

A thangka depicting Amitabha in Sukhavati
Eastern Tibet, 18th century

Himalayan Art Resources item no. 18369.
HAR編號18369

Height 37⅜ in., 95 cm; Width 29½ in., 75 cm

Condition Report:
The thangka is in very good condition, with just insignificant creases and losses.

Catalogue Note:
This vividly and meticulously detailed thangka, preserved in exceptionally good condition, belongs to a group of paintings associated with Trehor Namkha Gyan, known as Lankajie, a renowned artist working in Kham in the eighteenth century, see Jeff Watt, Himalayan Art Resources, Kandze Valley Painting Style and Trehor Namka Gyan. Based on oral histories Namkha Gyan worked for Gelug establishments in the Kangdze region, as well as the Ngorpa Sakya monastery of nearby Dongtog. He was thought to have been commissioned by the third Panchen lama Palden Yeshe (1738-1780), and a number of his works are now in the imperial collection in Beijing as gifts to the Qianlong emperor (r. 1735-1796). Compare a later nineteenth century Amitabha in Sukhavati in the Rubin Museum of Art, see Marylin M. Rhie and Robert A. F. Thurman, Worlds of Transformation: Tibetan Art of Wisdom and Compassion, New York, 1999 p. 428, cat. no 169.

The thangka depicts the pure land of Sukhavati, with Amitabha seated at the center on a peacock throne, an assembly of monks and deities to the sides, a lotus pond and an Amitayus temple complex below, an elaborate canopy protecting the Buddha, and auspicious emblems raining from the blue sky above.

Provenance:
Collection of Richard and Magdalena Ernst.

Sotheby's New York, 22nd March 2018, lot 972.