Lot 3653. A rare Imperial thangka of Ushnishavijaya, Qing dynasty, Qianlong period (1736-1795); 114 by 70 cm., 44 7/8  by 27 1/2  in. Estimate  600,000 — 800,000 HKD. Lot sold 750,000 HKD. © Sotheby's

finely painted on cotton with Ushnishavijaya, the three-headed Goddess of Longevity, below Amitayus and above White and Green Tara, all set against a vivid blue and green landscape background, mounted in silk, framed.

Note: This large and vividly painted thangka is one of a set commissioned for the Xumifushou Temple, which was built by the Qianlong Emperor to celebrate his seventieth birthday in 1780. The temple was a replica of the Tashilhunpo of Tibet, the monastery of the Panchen Lama. Three other thangkas from the same series, all painted in the Forbidden City, Beijing by monk painters, the first two in the collection of the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, the third in the collection of the Tibet Museum, Frey, Zurich, are illustrated by Terese Tse Bartholomew, ‘Thangkas of the Qianlong Period’, in Jane Casey Singer & Philip Denwood, eds., Tibetan Art: Towards a Definition of Style, London, 1997, p. 110 and 116, pls. 91, 98 and 99. Depicting Samantabhadra, Ratnasambhava and Cittavisramana Avalokitsesvara respectively, they share identical features with the current thangka, with similar iconography set against a similar vivid background derived from Chinese blue-and-green landscapes. All depict Amitayus, the Buddha of Infinite Life at the top centre of the painting, attended on both sides, and included for the purpose of granting longevity to the Qianlong Emperor. The popular Chinese deities White Tara and Green Tara are depicted below.

For a smaller and earlier thangka, painted in similar Chinese court style, see the thangka of Avalokiteshvara Ekadashamukha from the collection of Willem Van Heusden, dated to 1769, sold in our Paris rooms, 18th December 2012, lot 29. For another thangka of Ushnishavijaya painted in similar style in the Palace Museum, Beijing, see Cultural Relics of Tibetan Buddhism Collected in the Qing Palace, The Forbidden City Press, Hong Kong, 1992, pl. 19-1.

Compare also another painting from this same set, centered with the Bodhisattva Satakratu, illustrated in Asian Art Gallery, Chinese Imperial Patronage: Treasures from Temples and Palaces, Vol. II, London, 2005, p. 122, pl. 46; and another Imperial Chinese thangka of Ushnishavijaya, illustrated, ibid, pp.106-7, pl. 40, where the authors point out that Rolpal Dorje, the National Preceptor under the Qianlong Emperor and supreme religious authority, dedicated the second floor of the temple to the cult of Ushnishavijaya, and that the largest and most frequent rituals were performed there by a contingent of fifty lamas. 

In all these 'Chengde-style paintings', the principal deity in each painting is depicted with the same intricate textile designs finely painted in gold on red robes, deep blue and gold aprons, and with the same attention to detail and exquisite gold work throughout. The treatment of the landscape and clouds is identical and the design of the gold line-work on the lotus petals of the pedestals of the principal deities in each painting is typical of the Qing court repertoire.