GROUP OF TWO MEDICAL THANGKAS FROM THE BLUE BERYL SERIES QING DYNASTY, 19TH CENTURY 清 藏醫人體脈道與肌理唐卡（一組兩幅）comprising: a thangka depicting a naked human's back with arms spread, pigmented upper and mid body internals, covered allover in symmetrical red grid with various dots at which moxibustion should be applied, reserved on inscriptions taken from the Medical Text 'Gyud Zhi' explaining the reasons; and the other depicting human's energy movement, including a male's body, a flayed body with internals exposed, and a skeleton in ardhaparyank asana position reserved on inscriptions, each figure painted with blood vessels throughout the whole body, and a green line cut through from the top of the head to perineum(Qty: 2)65cm x 45.5cm eachProvenance: Private Manila collection; the present owner's father acquired them in the 1970sNote: The paintings are an extension of the Four Tantras appearing as part of the commentary written by Sangye Gyamtso, Regent to the Fifth Dalai Lama, in 1687-88, and entitled The Blue Beryl. The fundamental text of Tibetan medicine is the Tantra of Secret Instructions on the Eight Branches, the Essence of the Elixir of Immortality and commonly abridged as Four Tantras (Gyud Zhi), teaching four methods of treatment: Diet, Lifestyle, External Therapies, and Medication. The paintings showing here include the anterior and posterior views of vulnerable points from the 'Exegetical Tantra'.Moxibustion in Tibet is the application of heated needle into the skin and deep muscle and is one of the preferred ways to overcome pain; energy movement chart depicts routes that psychic energy travels throughout the human body and is used as a demonstration article rather than as something which could have been demonstrated by physical examination. It most certainly does not claim to be a map of blood vessels although Tibetans knew about this very well. However as medicine and Buddhism were strongly linked a chart of psychic energy movement was classified as a medical matter too.Comparable examples sold at Christie's New York, 19th September 2002, Lot 151