Four Mandala Vajravali Thangka

Object Details

• Patron

  Shakya Order Monks

• Description

  The central field with four mandalas, three with red, blue and yellow forms of Naro-dakini, the fourth with a blue unidentified deity, all surrounded by various emanations and other deities, placed within the squares, each of the four entrances flanked by a pair of makaras, the outer circle consisting of five-coloured lotus petals and a ring of fire, the centre with two debating monks, surrounded by four smaller ones, along the borders are depicted the eight cremation grounds, each with a mahasiddha surrounded by various scenes, the upper border depicts sixteen various gods, with a pair of dakinis at the outsides, the others in embrace with their female partner, the lower register with sixteen various coloured dakinis, all against a green scrolling background, the reverse with many mantras and short inscription with dedication to Naro-dakini and probably with the original light-green brocade mountings.

• Label

  Six hundred years ago, a Tibetan abbot venerated his teacher and celebrated the establishment of a monastery by commissioning these precisely painted and richly colored mandalas, or meditation diagrams, on a cloth thangka (also tanka). Exquisite scrollwork, slender figures, and a spirited depiction indicate that the painters came to Tibet from the adjoining Himalayan kingdom of Nepal.

  Buddhist adepts visualize the mandala as a three-dimensional palace. During meditation, practitioners imagine themselves traversing macabre cremation grounds and then passing through a ring of flames to enter the square of the mandala-palace. After meditating upon the deities in the four outer circles, they reach the principal deity dwelling in the mandala's center. The red, yellow, and blue forms of the female deity Varahi appear in three of the squares, and the male deity Vajra-Humkara, in union with his consort, appears in this thangka's fourth innermost shrine.

• Provenance

  1963

  William H. Wolff, 1963 [1]

  Makler Family Collection [2]

  From 1997

  Freer Gallery of Art, purchased at auction, Christie's, Amsterdam, November 19, 1997, lot no. 8 [3]

  Notes:

  [1] According to Curatorial Note 2 in the object record.

  [2] See note 1.

  [3] See note 1.

• Collection

  Freer Gallery of Art Collection

• Exhibition History

  Beyond the Legacy--Anniversary Acquisitions of the Freer Gallery of Art (October 11, 1998 to April 11, 1999)

• Previous custodian or owner

  William H. Wolff, Inc. (1906-1991)

  Christie's (Amsterdam)

• Origin

  Ngor Monastery, Tibet

• Credit Line

  Purchase — Charles Lang Freer Endowment

• Type

  Painting

• Restrictions and Rights

  Usage Conditions Apply

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Keep Exploring

• Related Resources

  collections.si.edu

• Date

  1400s

• Name

  Wolff, William H., Christie's (Amsterdam)

• Place

  Tibet, Ngor Monastery

• Topic

  Art, Symbolism, Vulture, Naropa, Lotus, Vajravali, South Asian and Himalayan Art, Animals, Mahasiddha, Dogs, Makara, Skull, Monk

• Culture

  Buddhists, Himalayan peoples, South Asians, Hindus

• Object Type

  Paintings