Press Trust of India | New Delhi March 10, 2014 Last Updated at 13:00 IST
Thangkas, sculptures and ritual objects, from a Japanese collector of Tibetan art are coming up for auction in New York later this month. The sale also includes items associated withIndia.
The Indian, Himalayan and Southeast Asian Works of Art Sale by Sotheby’s scheduled on March 19 includes over 45 thangkas, sculptures and ritual objects, from the collection of Yoshitomo Tamashige.
The collection was first exhibited at Meditation Homeland in Toyama Prefecture in Japan in 2004 and published in a catalogue titled “Gems of Thangka Art.”
Many of the works up for auction were also included in the 2005 exhibition “The World of Mandala” at the Okura Museum of Art in Tokyo.
Leading the sale is a very fine gilt copper alloy figure Depicting Tara from the Yongle period (1403-1424) and estimated to fetch USD300,000 to USD 500,000. It has been finished and gilded to perfection with the Yongle hallmark style of jewelry and lotus petals.
Also included from the collection in an epic thangka depicting a King, possibly Tri Ralpachen, one of the three legendary imperial patrons of early Buddhism in Tibet estimated to fetch USD 60,000 to USD 80,000).
The very large-format narrative thangka depicts a temple at the centre.
Further highlights from the auction include a rare copper alloy figure depicting Bodhisattva Manjushri, the oldest and most significant bodhisattva in Mahayana Buddhist literature.
Cast in a lustrous copper alloy with silver inlay in the Kashmiri style has been estimated to fetch between USD 350,000 to USD 450,000.
An 18th century parcel gilt copper alloy group depicting Manjushri on a snowlion has been estimated to fetch between USD 40,000 to USD 60,000.
Also up for offer is a large-scale granite figure of a Yakshi from South India and is pegged to sell between USD 50,000 to USD 70,000.
The 13th century bronze has been sourced from a private West Coast collection that includes Gandharan and Central Indian stone sculpture.
The auction also features an eclectic group of Indian miniature paintings from Rajasthan and Punjab led by a opaque watercolour with gold on paper titled “Maharana Ari Singh Searching the Skies circa 1764 (estimated USD 15,000 to USD 20,000).
The painting has been part of a private New York collection since 1989.
