Lot Description
A HIGHLY IMPORTANT IMPERIAL EMBROIDERED SILK THANGKA
YONGLE SIX-CHARACTER PRESENTATION MARK AND OF THE PERIOD (1402-1424)
This massive panel is exquisitely embroidered in gold thread and brilliant coloured silk threads on leaf-green jiang chou
silk enriched with a regular pattern of dark blue medallions of curled
leafy scrolls outlined with gold thread. The central image is of the
wrathful Raktayamari, depicted in tones of red, standing in yab-yum embracing his consort Vajravetali. Her left leg encircling his waist, his right hand wielding above his head a khatvanga embellished with human heads in varying states and the vajra thunderbolt, his left arm supporting his facing consort and holding a kapala
or skull cap in his left hand. The locked couple is trampling on the
blue corpse of Yama, the Lord of death, wearing a tiger skin and crown,
lying on the back of their mount, a brown buffalo recumbent on a
multi-coloured lotus base. All below two rows of buddhas and
bodhisattvas seated on lotus bases, the upper including Heruka
Vajrabhairava on the far left and Manjusri on the far right, flanking
the five Dhyani Buddhas, Ratnasambhava, Akshobhya, Vairocana, Amitabha
and Amoghasiddhi. The lower row with Green Tara and White Tara. On the
lower panel is a row of seven offering goddesses dancing on lotus bases
and holding aloft dishes as offerings below the couple. The thangka is bordered by an embroidered yellow-ground band of vajra.
On the upper right side is the vertical presentation mark in gold
thread on a red embroidered ground below the White Tara. Accompanied
with a Qing dynasty silk surround now detached.
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