Vajrapani

Distemper on cloth

43 1/4 x 28 ½ in. (109.8 x 72.5 cm.)

Private Swedish collection; acquired in the late 1930s.

Himalayan Art Resources (himalayanart.org), item no. 8076.

A parasol surmounted with flaming jewels and symmetrically framed by five cumulus clouds, hovers over an elaborate throne back presided over by a garuda and containing the Six Ornaments—an elephant, a lion, a sarabha, a dwarf, a makara, and a naga—on each side. Within the bounds of these stacked creatures, black transforms into a deep blue, and finally into a rainbow of light, radiating from the core of the bodhisattva’s golden body in an undulating aureole. A halo of pink and green light frames the bodhisattva’s serene expression. The ornaments that indicate his enlightened status are particularly elaborate—decorated with both jewels and delicate lotus flowers throughout. His multi-layered dhoti is equally as opulent, detailed with delicate floral and spiral motifs in gold.

The golden tone of this majestic figure’s skin belies his identity as the bodhisattva Vajrapani, as the deity is more typically depicted in blue or green. In the Vajrayana tradition Vajrapani takes the place of a narrator, relaying Tantric Buddhist teachings. He appropriately holds a vajra and ghanta which, together, embody his perfected state. The foreground below the celestial figure is filled with large lotus flowers supporting the Eight Auspicious Symbols of Tibetan Buddhism: a parasol, a vase, an endless knot, a dharma wheel, two fish, a victory banner, a conch shell, and a lotus flower. The style employed here is associated with the Manchu Qing imperial court, produced under a series of emperors who considered themselves emanations of the buddha Manjushri. The relationship between hierarchs of the Gelugpa sect that presided over the central Tibetan government and the Qing Emperors followed the priest-patron model established by Kublai Khan and Chogyal Phakpa in the thirteenth century. As such, paintings like the present, were commissioned to fill Tibetan Buddhist temples utilized by the court. The style is distinguished most apparently by the offering goddesses that appear within the clouds at the top of the composition as well as the abundance of lush lotuses styled as peonies and chrysanthemums.

Compare the present painting to those associated with the eighteenth-century Xumi Fushou temple, erected by the Qianlong Emperor as a replica of Tashi Lhunpo monastery for the visit of the sixth Panchen Lama, such as that of Samantabhadra in the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco (acc. B72D67). While the compositional arrangement is quite similar in style, the multi-colored saw-tooth edge clouds in the present work, as well as the ornamented trees in the forefront, and the small deer hidden in the landscape to the bodhisattva’s right, point to a more explicit influence of the contemporaneous central Tibetan styles on the present work of art.