a stupa at the centre with Shakyamuni Buddha seated on a throne within, flanked by bodhisattvasVajrapani and Lokeshvara, eyes depicted on the harmika, thirteen chatra on a spire above and a lotus umbrella flanked by two apsaras, four figures of Vajrapani below, with deities seated in geometrically disposed niches surrounded by myriad stupa, seated Buddhas in the upper register, and protector deity Chaturbhuja Mahakala below, flanked by panels depicting the symbols of the chakravartin, the donor family worshipping to the right, and a vajracharya performing homa puja to the leftHimalayan Art Resources item no. 18345.
EXHIBITED
LITERATURE
Pratapaditya Pal, Himalayas: An Aesthetic Adventure, Chicago, 2003, cat. no. 36.
CATALOGUE NOTE
Per Gautama V. Vajracharya, the inscription can be translated as follows:(This painting) is consecrated by Hidayju. Painters are Jiva Pona, Jayata Pona, Kalyana Subha Harasu, _ rama, Jayacamda and Ja _ rama. In the year of 563 [C. E. 1443] on the first day of the bright half of Bhadra month, Magha naksatra Parigha yoga, Wednesday, this image was rendered and the ritual of Laksacaitya was performed in the reign of Jayajasamalladeva. Pious donors are the Vyanjakara family, Jasarama … Ruparama, Lutayi, Jivacamda, and _ kuniju. With this religious merit, may the donor family receive long life, health, friendship of people, prosperity, and offerings. May it be auspicious!
Gautama V. Vajracharya “The Nepali Inscriptions”, in Pratapaditya Pal, Himalayas: An Aesthetic Adventure, Chicago, 2003, p. 280.
This important dated paubha depicts the Lakshachaitya ritual where the donor family, shown kneeling in the lower register, offer one-hundred thousand (laksha) stupa, often in the form of small consecrated clay moulds, to the Swayambhu chaitya depicted in the centre of the painting.
The stupa remains the most potent and venerated symbol of the Buddha, who is depicted in the painting seated within the monument itself. The inscription records the names of the six artists, belonging to the chitrakara caste of painters who created the majority of Buddhist and Hindu paubha in the Kathmandu Valley: the donors are identified as the Vyanjanakara family who are highly regarded members of another caste of Newar society responsible for the production of sweets and cookery, ibid.
Compare similar geometric composition in a later lakshachaitya paubha in the Zimmerman Family Collection, dated to 1510-19, offering insight into the continuum of artistic tradition in Kathmandu Valley painting, see Pratapaditya Pal, Art of the Himalayas: Treasures from Nepal and Tibet, New York, 1991, p. 74, cat. no. 36.
Details
- Title : Lakchachaitya
- Year : 1443
- Classification : Paubha Painting
- Dimension : 33 by 23 1/4 in. (84 by 59 cm)
- Collection : Sotheby’s
- Credit Line : THE RICHARD R. & MAGDALENA ERNST COLLECTION OF HIMALAYAN ART
- Acquisition Method : Lot 914
- Status : 150,000 — 250,000 USD. LOT SOLD. 93,750 USD . 22 MARCH 2018 | 10:00 AM EDT NEW YORK
- Exhibited : “Himalayas: An Aesthetic Adventure”, The Art Institute of Chicago, 5 April-17 August 2003; and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institute, Washington, D.C., 18 October 2003-11 January 2004.
- Literature : Pratapaditya Pal, Himalayas: An Aesthetic Adventure, Chicago, 2003, cat. no. 36.