A MONGOLIAN THANGKA OF BUDDHA SHAYKAMUNI AND THE EIGHTEEN ARHATS19TH CENTURY Painted in vivid colours on sized cotton and mounted in its original silk frame the thangka depicts Buddha Shakyamuni seated on a lion throne. He is flanked by his disciples Maudgalyayana and Shariputra and surrounded by the Eighteen Arhats, with an image of the primordial Buddha Vajrasana placed at the top of the thangka. The guardians of the four directions: Dhritarashtra, Virupaksha, Virudhaka and Vaishravana are depicted in the lower register of the thangka, 56cm x 39cm.Provenance: from a European private collection acquired in the early 1990s and exhibited in the exhibition The Art of Buriatia, Buddhist Icons from Southern Siberia, Spink and Son Ltd. London 1996.