Provenance:
Galerie Koller, Zurich, November 21 and 22, 1992, no. 112
European Private Collection
Sotheby’s, Paris, December 11, 2018, no. 55
This finely-drawn black-ground thangka (nagthang) depicts the Sakya-order ‘worldly protector’ Dorje Shugden seated on a lion throne above a sea of blood in a pagoda of skulls, entrails, and severed heads. Two Sakya hierarchs appear in golden spheres above: the founder of Ngor monastery, Ngorchen Kunga Zangpo (1382-1456), on the left and a teacher on the right, possibly Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo (1820-1892), with the lappets of his scholar’s cap folded up and crossed at the front.
This rare thangka is likely to have been painted in the nineteenth century during the relatively short time that Dorje Shugden was the protector deity of Khangsar Labrang, one of four ruling abbatial houses of Ngor monastery, before the deity fell out of favor among Sakya masters in the early twentieth century.
With an intensely-fierce expression on his bearded face, Dorje Shugden holds a jewel-club (ratna danda) in his raised right hand, a white skull with black heart in his left, and a noose (pasha) in the crook of his arm. He wears boots, monastic robes, and a tulku’s gold lacquer riding hat. Six-armed Hayagriva and Brahmanarupa Mahakala appear in the upper tiers of the temple, with emanations of Dorje Shugden in the lower tiers riding a white horse, a black horse, an elephant, a dragon, and a kyung bird. Snake-bodied Rahula and blue Mahakala holding a tally stick and skull appear to the left and right of the palace, and an armored protector deity guards the temple gates below. A naga emerges from cosmic waters beneath, surrounded by fabulous landscape and mythical beasts. The painting is executed with painstaking attention to detail, which reaches its height among the layers of draped textiles which adorn the deity, each rendered with a unique design.
