Bidspirit auction | Rare Nagthang (ནག་ཐང་།) on silk

Rare Nagthang (ནག་ཐང་།) on silk depicting Mahakala Chinese-Tibet, 19th century. - Rare black ground thangka painted on silk with the figure of Vajrapani, an irate deity characterized by his necklace of skulls, plastic posture and tiger skin. Upper and lower silk brocade frame decorated with auspicious symbols. Thangkas are Buddhist devotional paintings generally very colourful and on cotton. Thangkas with a black background, although this style developed as early as the 15th century, are rare and those on silk even more scarse. Black symbolizes vacuity (śūnyatā) and the mystery of the absolute. It is also associated with spiritual transformation and protection. Two old Sotheby's labels on the back of the thangka. For a comparative exemplar, see Rubin Museum of Art, New York, Acc. no.F1996.18.4. Provenance: Private collection Brescia, Italy. 186 X 110,5 cm