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Double Mandala

Tibetan
18th–19th century
Object Place: Tibet

Medium/Technique Distemper and gold on cotton, mounted with silk brocade, wood dowels, silk veil muslin backing.
Dimensions Overall: 126 x 77cm (49 5/8 x 30 5/16in.)
Other (Image): 83 x 61cm (32 11/16 x 24in.)
Credit Line John Ware Willard Fund
Accession Number64.1162
NOT ON VIEW
CollectionsAsia
ClassificationsPaintings

DescriptionPainting in hanging scroll (thangka) format, with streamers, veil and decorative stitched borders.

Two mandalas appear, one above the other, floating in clouds above a landscape. The upper mandala appears to have Ushnishavijaya at the center with 4 Buddhas around her: Amitabha, Amoghasiddhi, Akshobhya, and Ratnasambhava (reading clockwise from top). Below is a mandala with a crowned Buddha at center surrounded by 4 other Buddhas as well as Bodhisattvas who appear in multiple lotus petals. In the clouds above the upper mandala are apsarases bearing offerings. At the center on either side are red-hatted lamas, and below are rivers and rocks.
Provenance1964, Roland Koscherak, Flushing, NY; 1964, purchased from a New York collection by the MFA. (Accession Date: September 23, 1964)