A THANGKA WITH SHADAKSHARI LOKESHVARA SURROUNDED BY SCENES FROM THE LIFE STORY OF YESHE TSOGYALTIBET, CIRCA 19TH CENTURY Distemper on cloth. Himalayan Art Resources item no. 1428 Image: 33 1/2 x 25 1/2 in. (85 x 64.8 cm) With silks: 32 3/4 x 26 (83.2 x 66 cm) 西藏 約十九世紀 四臂觀音居益西措嘉圖傳唐卡 This thangka is one of few-known scroll paintings depicting episodes from the life story of Yeshe Tsogyal, the Tibetan wife of Padmasambhava who became a Vajrayana master in her own right. The couple are depicted meditating in hermitages immediately below the large central figure of Shadakshari Lokeshvara. This painting also had a distinctive function, used as a visual aid by travelling performers known as Buchen or Lama Mani . These gro enacted popular folktales, morality plays, and biographies of Tibetan saints formon audiences. The thangkas were frequently handled by their peripatetic educators often until they were excessively worn, making this a relatively early and well-preserved example. Another Buchen thangka with scenes from the life story of Yeshe Tsogyal is in the Philadelphia Museum of Art (1959-47-1). For more information, see Pakhoutova, "For One and or for Many: Affluent andmon Patronage of Narrative Art in Tibet", Material Religion , 17:1, pp.29-55. Provenance: Private Collection, California