TANGKA REPRÉSENTANT LE PORTRAIT DE DAMARUPA TIBET... Lot 109

TANGKA REPRÉSENTANT LE PORTRAIT DE DAMARUPA TIBET CENTRAL, MONASTÈRE DE NGOR, VERS 1600 Distemper on cloth; with original blue cloth mounts inscribed on the reverse along the top in Tibetan, identifying the painting's subject, and also with original red lacquered, gold painted dowel rod; verso inscribed in black ink with 'om, ah, hum' incantations behind each figure and many lines arranged into the form of a stupa, comprising Sanskritized and Tibetan prayers and mantras consistent with a formula repeated throughout the Ngor lamdre lineage set of paintings; the painted recto with Tibetan inscriptions in gold identifying the majority of figures, and two separate lines of inscription along the bottom red painted border, the second identifying the secondary 'Chandali Perfection Stage Lineage' sequence of figures within the painting, the first an homage to the central subject, translated: 'Seeing the excellent meaning of reality, By releasing from worldly practice And remaining in the conduct of accomplishment; To Damarupa, I bow.' Himalayan Art Resources item no. 88707 Image: 78.5 x 67 cm (30 7/8 x26 3/8 in.); With silks: 126 x 68 cm (49 5/8 x 26 3/4 in.) Footnotes: A PORTRAIT THANGKA OF DAMARUPA CENTRAL TIBET, NGOR MONASTERY, CIRCA 1600 藏中 俄爾寺 約1600年 達瑪如巴肖像唐卡 Published: Pratapaditya Pal, Tibetan Painting, Basel, 1984, pl. 40. Wisdom Calendar of Tibetan Art, Schneelowe Verlagsberatung und Verlag, Haldenwang, 1987 (October). Pratapaditya Pal, Himalayas: An Aesthetic Adventure, 2003, p. 262, no. 174. Rob Linrothe, Holy Madness: Portraits of Tantric Siddhas, New York, 2006, pp. 300-1, no. 51. David Jackson, The Nepalese Legacy in Tibetan Painting, New York, 2010, pp. 22 & 41, fig. 2.23. Exhibited: Himalayas: An Aesthetic Adventure, Art Institute of Chicago, 5 April – 17 August 2003; National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C., 18 October 2003 – 11 January 2004. Holy Madness: Portraits of Tantric Siddhas, Rubin Museum of Art, New York, 11 February – 3 September 2006. The Nepalese Legacy in Tibetan Painting, Rubin Museum of Art, New York, 3 September 2010 – 23 May 2011. Provenance: Schoettle Ostasiatica, Stuttgart, 1982 Michael Henss Collection, Zurich One of the best-preserved paintings from the famous Ngor lamdre lineage set, this near-pristine composition depicts Mahasiddha Damarupa, 'The Drummer'. According to traditional accounts, Damarupa trained under Kanha at every potent charnel ground and site of tantric power in India, prompting his zestful depiction. In addition to being the third mortal master of the lamdre tradition, Damarupa is a renowned adept of the important Chakrasamvara Tantra, which the composition alludes to through the pair of Chakrasamvara deities from differing teaching traditions in the corners at either side of his ornate throne-back. His eponymous damaru, a double-sided hand drum, embodies one of three principal ritual instruments of a tantric practitioner, alongside the vajra and ghanta (bell). Formed by attaching two craniums of enlightened masters, the drum, in the context of Chakrasamvara Tantra, is the Prajna (wisdom) to which the male applies his skillful means (i.e. compassion) activating the union of these two highest Buddhist principles (Huntington & Bangdel, The Circle of Bliss, 2003, no. 106). With modulations from soft to loud and slow to rapid beats, Damarupa, as the drum's archetypal practitioner, is able to produce a single tone that summons all Buddhas, inspiring them with supreme joy (Beer, The Encyclopedia of Tibetan Symbols and Motifs, 1999, p. 258). At the center of the painting, Damarupa whips the pair of golden clappers against the drum with a flick of his wrist. The drum's long tassel of jade beads, gems, gold fastenings, and tri-colored silk streamers trail in countermovement. The painter repeats its flurried arc with the extension of Damarupa's left leg, which, coupled with a half-cocked elbow gingerly cradling a skull cup full of nectar, deftly conveys the peripatetic drummer in a half-seated-half-dancing liminal posture. Airy crimson sashes twirl around his arms and knees, and spiral before his feet. Damarupa's piercing, bloodshot brown eyes and excited grin invite the viewer to hear the 'sound of great bliss' he has produced for all those that can perceive it. He wears a crown of five emblazoned gems borne alternately from Indian lotuses and Chinese peonies. The colored order of each gemstone correlates to the surrounding structure of green, red, and blue aureoles of perfect Newari scrollwork. Meanwhile, his black hair wrapped in an intricate bone lattice is pulled up into a trilobed bun that echoes the edge of the throne-back above him, further harmonizing with the mahasiddha's visage. Twenty-six vividly executed portraits comprising the 'Chandali Perfection Stage Lineage' surround Damarupa in formal rows along the top and side registers. This secondary lineage within the painting is one of over thirty traditional Sa