A THANGKA OF MAITREYA IN HIS PURE LAND


TIBET, 19TH CENTURYDistemper on cloth; with original silk mounts.
Himalayan Art Resources item no.61943 Image: 26 x 19 3/8 in. (66 x 49.1 cm);With silks: 47 x 27 in. (119 x 69 cm)
|西藏 十九世紀 彌勒菩薩居淨土唐卡 Maitreya reigns over Tushita Heaven at the center of his celestial palace. He is flanked by Avalokiteshvara and Manjushri, and joined by Tsongkhapa and a Panchen Lama of the Gelug School of Tibetan Buddhism. Numerous monks and lineage holders populate the open field before the palace, lucky enough to have been reborn into Maitreya's paradisiacal realm. Compare the bodhisattvas, architectural elements, and the oversized flowers with a thangka of Sukhavati Heaven in the Hahn Foundation (Kimiaki, Art of Thangka, III, Seoul, 2001, p.65, no.24). Provenance Private Charlottesville Collection Thence by descent