Mark Rasmussen
International Director
Lot 609
A POLYCHROMED WOOD TORANA WITH TWELVE BODHISATTVAS TIBET, CIRCA 13TH CENTURY
23 September 2020, 15:00 EDT
New YorkUS$30,000 - US$50,000
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
A POLYCHROMED WOOD TORANA WITH TWELVE BODHISATTVAS
TIBET, CIRCA 13TH CENTURY
Himalayan Art Resources item no.16834
32 in. (81.3 cm) high
Himalayan Art Resources item no.16834
32 in. (81.3 cm) high
Footnotes
西藏 約十三世紀 木質彩繪十二菩薩陀蘭納門
This intricately carved wood torana serves as a backdrop for a standing Buddha or bodhisattva sculpture. The composition has a flame border and is populated by twelve bodhisattvas seated in alcoves. The surround of the plain central throne back is decorated with an iconographic formula known as 'The Six Ornaments' interspersed with meandering swells of vegetation. This formula generally comprises—from top to bottom—pairs of elephants, followed by mythical lions, horses or kinnaras (the latter in this case), sarabhas (a small boy riding a flying horse), makaras, nagas, and a garuda at the apex. Remarkably preserved, the torana is one of few objects of its kind to has survived to this day, making it extremely rare.
Traces of red, black, and blue pigment, remain, as well as a delightful speckled pattern on the makaras. The style of the intertwined vegetal curlicues and flame border are exemplary of master Newari woodcarvers who were trained in the Pala Buddhist art of Northeastern India and instrumental in its transfer to Tibetan monasteries in the 13th century. Compare the palette and low-relief carving of the vegetal sprays in a circa 13th-century wood manuscript cover published in Rossi & Rossi, Early Tibetan Manuscript Covers, London, 1996, no.14). Similar treatment of 'The Six Ornament' design can be observed in 13th-century thangkas of Tathagatas held by American museums (HAR 101355, 101356 & 101357). And a roughly contemporaneous torana, albeit modest by contrast to the present lot, stands behind a wood sculpture of Pagpa Lokeshvara in the Museum Rietberg, Zurich (von Schroeder-Imhof, Schritte zur Erkenntnis, Zurich, 2006, pp.68-9, no.14).
Provenance
Private West Coast collection since 1980's