Dora Tan
Head of Sale, Specialist
Lot 306
A PAUBHA OF BUDDHA WITH SCENES FROM HIS PAST LIVES NEPAL, DATED 1801 CE
22 March 2022, 09:00 EDT
New YorkSold for US$19,062.50 inc. premium
Looking for a similar item?
Our Indian, Himalayan & Southeast Asian Art specialists can help you find a similar item at an auction or via a private sale.
Find your local specialistAsk about this lot
Mark Rasmussen
International Director
A PAUBHA OF BUDDHA WITH SCENES FROM HIS PAST LIVES
NEPAL, DATED 1801 CE
Himalayan Art Resources item no.4536
Image: 49 7/8 x 28 3/8 in. (127.2 x 72.2 cm)
Himalayan Art Resources item no.4536
Image: 49 7/8 x 28 3/8 in. (127.2 x 72.2 cm)
Footnotes
尼泊爾 1801年 佛陀本生故事博巴
Characteristic of Nepalese paintings, this large composition is tightly packed with horizontal and vertical registers containing portraits and narrative scenes. In the center, Buddha Shakyamuni appears before clusters of auspicious clouds, from which emerge blue-bodied Vajradhara and two Gelug lamas. He is flanked by his two principal disciples, Maudgalyayana and Sariputra, and further surrounded by scenes from his past lives. Within the top register, Prajnaparamita, Medicine Buddha, and Rakta Lokeshvara (a meditation form of Avalokiteshvara) appear between snow-capped mountains and piles of jewels. In the bottom register, the artist has portrayed the donor's family on either side of a white stupa. An inscription within the red-bordered rectangle reveals the painting's date and the donor's name:
Bhāju Mānaju commissioned (this painting) to secure the Sukhāvatī heaven for his deceased great-great-grandfather Dhaṃdeoju, great-grandfather Jñānaśrīju, grandfather Dhaṃmaju,... father Dhanaju, and mother Vāgavati. This image was consecrated in (Nepal) Saṃvat 921, on the full moon day of the Māgha month, Thursday, which was the very first death anniversary (dakilā) of Bhāju Dhanaju, (Bhāju Mānaju's) father...
A Hindu revival during the late Malla period (1482-1769) saw the royal patronage of Buddhist monasteries and temples in Nepal decrease over time. Consequently, this paubha is one of a very small group of Buddhist paintings from the early 19th century surviving in good condition. Compare the treatment of clouds, aureole, and the busy composition to another 19th-century paubha of Ushnishavijaya at the Rubin Museum of Art, New York (F1997.17.24). It is quite likely that Bhāju Mānaju, the patron of the present painting, also commissioned an inscribed bronze Buddhist triad sold at Bonhams, London, 8 November 2018, lot 250 (fig.1) given that both artworks spanning 31 years commemorate a father named Bhāju Dhanaju.
(Please refer to our printed or digital catalog for the figure listed in this essay.)
Provenance:
Ex-Private Florida Estate