Provenance:
Collection of Richard R. and Magdalena Ernst
The Buddha of Infinite Light, Amitabha, is accompanied by bodhisattvas Avalokiteshvara and Mahasthamaprapta—sometimes known as the Western Trinity—in this animated portrayal of Sukhavati, the Blissful Western Pure Land of Amitabha.[1] The Buddha is seated on a peacock throne holding a begging bowl with a chakra wheel resting on top, an elaborate foliate canopy above, with Buddhas, monks, and adepts throughout, a temple in each corner, and a foliate border beneath and at either side.
Compare the style and composition of a painting in the Shelley and Donald Rubin Collection published by Marylin Rhie and Robert Thurman, including the foliage throughout representing the cosmic tree that supports the Pure Land and a similar distribution of temple complexes that the authors speculate are the abodes of the Tibetan Dharma Kings.[2] Rhie and Thurman date the Rubin example to the second half of the fourteenth or early fifteenth century and identify it as one of the earliest examples of the Sukhavati theme in Tibetan thangka painting. The present example is amongst the finest of these early depictions of the Sukhavati Pure Land Paradise, into which devotees aspire to be reborn through their faith in Buddha Amitabha.
[1] The triumvirate of Amitabha, Avalokiteshvara, and Mahasthamaprapta is a key feature of Mahayana Buddhist Sukhavati iconography, see Jeff Watt, https://www.himalayanart.org/search/set.cfm?setID=7200
[2] Marylin M. Rhie and Robert A. F. Thurman, Wisdom and Compassion: The Sacred Art of Tibet, Expanded Edition, New York, 1996, p. 470, cat. no. 225
