156. TANGKA EN SOIE APPLIQUÉE ET BRODÉE REPRÉSENTANT RAGAVAJRA GANAPATI TIBET OU MONGOLIE, VERS XIXE SIÈCLE With original silk mount and veil. Himalayan Art Resources item no. 205056 Image: 51 x 38.5 cm (20 1/8 x 15 1/8 in.); With silks: 86.5 x 65 cm (34 1/8 in. x 25 5/8 in.) A SILK APPLIQUÉ AND EMBROIDERED THANGKA OF RAGAVAJRA GANAPATI TIBET OR MONGOLIA, CIRCA 19TH CENTURY 西藏或蒙古 約十九世紀 織錦加緞繡移威象鼻財神金剛愛母唐卡 Introduced into Tibet by the Buddhist teacher Atisha (982-1054) and worshipped in the Revealed Treasure (Terma) tradition of the Nyingma school, this unique form of the elephant-headed deity Ganesha is a wealth and power deity known as Ragavajra Ganapati. This embroidered thangka is eye-catching for its creative depiction of a monkey-headed goddess placing her mouth to Ganapati's phallus while expelling menstrual blood into a skullcup, pushing the boundaries of what is considered taboo to confer esoteric instruction, even by the visual standards of the 18th and 19th centuries. Moreover, the original silk mount with Chinese dragons chasing after a flaming pearl at the lower register speaks to some degree of contact between the monastic tradition that contributed to the making of this thangka and lamas from the Qing dynasty (1644-1911). Compare a painting on cotton depicting the same deities in the Rubin Museum of Art (F1997.13.2; HAR 207). Provenance: Ashencaen and Leonov, London, 2000s