Provenance:
Rossi & Rossi, Ltd., London
European Private Collection, acquired in 1993
The mandala depicts Sakya Simha, the form of Sakyamuni Buddha described in the Vajravali (Adamantine Garland), the treatise compiled by the Indian pandit Abhayakaragupta (d. 1125), in which the practices and iconography of esoteric Buddhist deities are set out in extensive detail. At the center, Sakya Simha is seated upon a crouching white snow-lion within the mandala palace, surrounded by an intricate assembly of deities. A ring of fabulous Vedic planetary deities encircles the palace, while Buddhas within scrolling vines occupy the four quadrants beyond it. A Sakya lineage appears in the upper register, and deities and wealth gods fill the lower register, accompanying the donor monk seated beside an offering table.
The composition belongs to one of the most extensive series of Tibetan Vajravali mandalas known from the fourteenth century. The paintings share the same dimensions and overall format, together with a vibrant palette and exquisite attention to detail, while the deity represented determines the final arrangement of each composition. Unlike many other examples in the series, the present mandala does not include charnel grounds; instead, the ring of planetary deities surrounds the palace. The series was first published by Robert Burawoy in his 1978 Paris exhibition “Peintures du monastère de Nor,” which featured four of the mandalas. At that time, the paintings were thought to have come from Ngor monastery; current scholarship suggests that Shalu is more likely to have been their source.
Each mandala depicts Lama Dampa Sonam Gyaltsen (1312–1375) at the center of the upper register, suggesting that the cycle was dedicated to him. Lama Dampa was a student and patron of the celebrated scholar Buton Rinchen Drup (1290–1364), the eleventh abbot of Shalu monastery. Paintings from the series are preserved in museum and private collections worldwide, and their historical importance has been documented by numerous scholars. Jeff Watt further suggests that the paintings may have been dedicated to Lama Dampa by his devoted student Chen-nga Chenpo (1310–1370).
