This extremely fine and detailed painting of Bhavaviveka depicts the sixth-century Madhyamaka philosopher as the fourth pre-incarnation of the Panchen Lama lineage. The recognition of Panchen Lamas began with Lobsang Chokyi Gyaltsen (1570-1662), tutor of the Fifth Dalai Lama, and evolved into one of the most important lines of successively reincarnating teachers in the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism, closely associated with the Dalai Lamas. Traditionally, the principal monastic seat of the Panchen Lamas is Tashilhunpo Monastery near Shigatse in Tsang province, where this painting was likely created. Although the recognition of the Panchen Lama began officially with Lobsang Chokyi Gyaltsen, the Gelug scholar Tukwan Lobzang Chokyi Nyima's Crystal Mirror identifies numerous pre-incarnations including Padmasambhava, Jowo Atisha, Gampopa, Sakya Pandita, and Bhavaviveka, the subject of the present painting.
There are three known formulas for painting sets depicting the incarnation and pre-incarnation lineage of the Panchen Lama. These can be categorized as short, medium, and long presentations, all revolving around the central figure of the third Panchen Lama Lobzang Palden Yeshe (1738-1780). The shortest painting set depicts thirteen figures, based on a seventeenth-century set attributed to the artist Choying Gyatso (ca. 1615-85), credited as the founder of the New Menri school of painting. A fine example of the “short painting set” belongs to the collection of Tibet House, New Delhi , illustrated on Himalayan Art Resources, item nos. 71921-71933. The medium-length set introduces two more figures: Padmasambhava and Atisha. The longest presentation of the incarnation lineage adds four more Indian teachers for a total of nineteen individuals. The present lot belongs to a particularly fine example of the longest painting set, containing nineteen distinct compositions and likely commissioned during the lifetime of the Third Panchen Lama. The present painting is just one of a larger group of paintings from the same set, nine of which were sold at Christie’s New York, 18 Sep 2013, lot 256 (illustrated on Himalayan Art Resources, item nos. 30627-30635) for $ 723,750, and one depicting Sakya Pandita, which was given to the current Sakya Tridzin by Moke Mokotoff, and all of which were sold at Doyle New York in 1999 from the estate of New York collector Saul Mauriber.
The design of the painting sets became somewhat consistent during the later years of the third Panchen Lama’s life, in part due to a set of thirteen woodblocks made at Narthang Monastery during his lifetime, which standardized the iconography of the figures in the lineage. Multiple sets were made directly from or based on these woodblocks, spreading the recognition of the Third Panchen Lama’s authority. The present composition of Bhavaviveka shares a close fidelity with the woodblock prints produced in Narthang, though many details within the present painting are more elaborate and executed in finer detail.
Bhavaviveka is depicted sitting atop an antelope hide, with his face in a three-quarter view. The author of the “Heart of the Middle Way” and other notable treatises of Mahayana Buddhism, Bhavaviveka is regarded as the founder of the Svatantrika tradition of Madhyamaka. In the present painting, he is portrayed with bluish skin and with an emaciated figure. Bhavaviveka wears a pandita hat signifying his wide learning and authority within the monastery. He places his right hand in the gesture of teaching while he holds pages of a sutra cushioned with a silk scarf with his left. He is seated in a wooden meditation pavilion amidst a verdant Chinese-style blue-and-green landscape. Borrowing from the landscape painting tradition of the imperial Ming dynasty, the cliffs are highlighted with gold, creating a powerful visual effect. In the faraway mountains, various types of wild animals are depicted roaming the landscape.
Behind the main figure, a Tibetan-style painting of Buddha Shakyamuni’s refuge field hangs within the space cell of the meditation pavilion. This detail serves as a reminder of Bhavaviveka's devotion to Buddhist teachings. To the lower right of Bhavaviveka, his personal belongings, including a traveling bag, a water ewer, and sutra texts wrapped in resplendent silks, are depicted atop a lotus leaf. At the upper left hand of the painting, Nagarjuna is depicted sitting atop a white lotus framed by intricately knotted branches of the willow, the snakes themselves wrapping around the branches of the tree; considered to be the founder of the Madhyamaka school of Mahayana Buddhism, Nagarjuna’s presence signifies an acknowledgment of the Bhavaviveka lineage. At the upper right of the painting, atop swirling violet clouds, the blue, four-faced and twelve-armed Chakrasamvara, according to the tradition of Ghantapa, stands embracing his consort, Vajrayogini. The Chakrasamvara portrayed in the present painting is likely influenced by the Khyenri style, indicated by the peach-shaped flames and the downward-facing lotus base. The four-armed-form of Mahakala is depicted in the lower right corner of the painting; Chaturbhuja Mahakala holds a fresh heart and a skull cup in his principal hands and a sword and trident in his upper hands. Separated from the fray by an aureole of intensely-burning flames, the four-armed Mahakala is principally a protector deity associated with the Chakrasamvara cycle of tantric literature and practice.
Created in Tashilhunpo monastery under the supervision of the Third Panchen Lama, this painting achieves an unparalleled standard of excellence within the realm of Tibetan painting. This present painting maintains its connection to the New Menri style of the seventeenth century while emphasizing a pronounced shift in the eighteenth century towards accentuating brighter colors, landscapes with perspective, and depictions of flowers, trees, and birds. While the color palette and movement of this extended lineage painting deviate visually from the original block prints and paintings, the overall arrangement of the composition remains consistent. This distinct style eventually became recognized as the "Tsang-ri" style, signifying the artistic approach originating from Tsang province, also referred to as the Tashilhunpo style. Compare the present work with a similar painting set illustrated in Tangka-Buddhist Painting of Tibet, The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Hong Kong, 2003, p. 10-33. Compare also with two examples very closely related in style to the present lot, both dated to the forty-fifth year of Qianlong (1780 A.D.) illustrated in Cultural Relics of Tibetan Buddhism Collected in the Qing Palace, figs. 17 and 24.