A thangka of Shri DeviWestern Tibet or Western Himalayas, 16th century藏西或西喜馬拉雅 十六世紀 吉祥天母唐卡distemper on clothHimalayan Art Resources item no. 77207設色布本HAR編號77207Height 27⅞ in., 71 cm; Width 23¼ in., 59 cm来源: DescriptionA thangka of Shri DeviWestern Tibet or Western Himalayas, 16th century藏西或西喜馬拉雅 十六世紀 吉祥天母唐卡distemper on clothHimalayan Art Resources item no. 77207設色布本HAR編號77207Height 27⅞ in., 71 cm; Width 23¼ in., 59 cmCondition reportFor more information on and additional videos for this lot, please contact Eleanor.Jahrling@sothebys.com.In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.我們很高興為您提供上述拍品狀況報告。由於敝公司非專業修復人員，在此敦促您徵詢其他專業修復人員，以獲得更詳盡、專業之報告。準買家應該檢查每件拍品以確認其狀況，蘇富比所作的任何陳述均為主觀看法而非事實陳述。雖然本狀況報告或有針對某拍品之討論，但所有拍賣品均根據印於圖錄內之業務規則以拍賣時狀況出售。ProvenanceCollection of Lionel (1943-2017) and Danielle Fournier.Christie's Paris, 12th December 2018, lot 32.Lionel (1943-2017) 及 Danielle Fournier 伉儷收藏巴黎佳士得2018年12月12日，編號32Catalogue noteShri Devi raises the right hand clasping a vajra danda cluband holds a human skull kapala in the left. The protector goddess wears a flayed human skin cape over the shoulders tied by an arm and leg, a garland of severed heads and a tiger-skin loin cloth, and is adorned with gold and human bone jewelry, a peacock feather and crescent moon headdress, with a snow lion and a serpent appearing from behindthe ears. The deity rides side-saddle, atop a mule draped with serpents, talismans, and the flayed skin of her son, striding across a sea of blood led by Shri Devi’s attendant Makaramukha and followed by the lion-faced Simhamukha. A shrine is depicted behind amidst gray smoke and flames, with a peacock feather canopy above. A mounted entourage surrounds the goddess in the upper, left, and lower registers, with Gelukpa hierarchs above, a patron and the protector deity Yama Dharmaraja below.A compelling stylistic comparison may be made with a fifteenth or sixteenth century Tibetan painting of the guardian deity Kshetrapala, see Christie’s New York, 3rd October 1990, lot 119 (Himalayan Art Resource item no. 92055). The gods, mounts, and attendants display a similar wild intensity and the otherwise featureless dark background of each painting is decorated with the same red flower-like motif. The Kshetrapala was collected by Walter Koelz during an expedition to the western Himalayas in the early 1930s, and a similar regional provenance may be ascribed to the Shri Devi painting. Shri Devi’s distinctive crown style, consisting of a thin projection rising from a circular foot above the skulls, is typical of the region, as seen on wall paintings at Thiksey Monastery, Ladakh, published in the exhibition catalogue Collecting Paradise: Buddhist Art of Kashmir and Its Legacies, Block Museum of Art, Evanston, 2014, fig. 3.30. Compare alsothe common regional style of lotus pedestal depicted on the Thiksey murals featuring distinctive ruffled petals, similar to those on the seat of the Geluk lama to the right of the peacock feather canopy above Shri Devi’s shrine. A common tradition of western Tibetan painting in this period is the depiction of a consecration scene in the lower register. In the Shri Devi example, a patron monk is seated next to two altar tables with ritual offerings: compare the cabriole leg design of the altar table on a fifteenth century western Tibetan Mahakala thangka in the Michael and Beata McCormick Collection, ibid., fig. 3.25.The hierarchs depicted in the upper register affiliate the painting with the Gelukpa order of Tibetan Buddhism, which became increasingly influential in western regions of Tibet in the latter half of the fifteenth through the sixteenth century. The Geluk order has traditionally worshipped Shri Devi in her role as dharmapala, the only female protector of the Buddhist faith in the Tibetan pantheon.