WESTERN TIBET, 14TH-15TH CENTURY

Although fragmentary, this vibrant painting, with its rich hues and lavish use of gold, would have at its time of creation been a masterpiece of Tibetan painting. Depicting the Buddha Shakyamuni, evidenced by the mudra of the right hand and the small bowl held in the left, the composition also includes attendant bodhisattvas, various deities and additional buddhas, and a lineage of teachers. The work displays characteristics, such as the elongated body of the attendant bodhisattva, the baroque folds of the Buddha’s robe, and the black-and-white checkered throne cloth, that indicate it was painted in Western Tibet. The ornately-rendered lotus base, with its multicolored hues, references the Nepalese-influenced high art of the fifteenth century. An enigmatic inscription, found in a circular cartouche to the left of the lotus base, is yet to be deciphered.