Thangka, the Venerable Varnavas

[Thangka of the Venerable Vanavas]

Thangka of the Venerable Vanavas, 18th century, Beijing, Buben, colored, 143 cm high, 89 cm wide, 82 cm vertical and 56 cm horizontal. The old collection of the Qing Palace
Varnabas means “a hermit in the forest”. It is said that the Venerable Master once assiduously practiced Buddhism in the “Qiye Mountain” jungle and won the title of Arhat Fruit. Sakyamuni praised him as an outstanding person living in quiet meditation
In the painting, the Venerable Varnavas made a mark of peace with his right hand, and waved a feather fan with his left hand. He sat with his hands folded in the seven-leaf mountain cave full of Bodhi fruit. The upper bound is the Buddha of Pishe and the Buddha of Abandoned Body, and the lower bound is the scripture of Yecha Jishou offering to the waiter. At the bottom of the picture is a gold powder inscription of Emperor Qianlong’s “Praise of the Imperial Eighteen Arhats”: “The third Buddha of Nabasi: two fingers in the vertical direction, and the space and color are combined. Vapo Bodhisattva is like hearing the words of the Buddha. When you hear it, there is no lack of the Buddha. The waiter receives the sutra, and Yecha is the chief.”
There is a white silk sign on the back of the Thangka, which is inscribed in four characters, Han, Manchu, Mongolian, and Tibetan, Among them, the Chinese text reads: “On the 10th day of September in the fifty-fifth year of Qianlong’s reign, the emperor ordered the painting of the Buddha Lama in the main hall to offer the benefit portrait of the Venerable Varnavas… the third from the right”. This Thangka is one of the sixteen Arhat portraits painted by the Buddha Lama in the Central Main Hall. In the painting, the Arhat’s Hu looks like a Buddhist monk, which is quite similar to the style of the Sixteen Arhat Statues painted by Guan Xiu, the Buddhist master of the Five Dynasties. The background is relatively simple, only for the close view of mountains, rocks and waterfalls. The composition between the characters and the background is lack of attention, and the lines and colors are rough and disorderly. It can be seen that the painting of the court Thangka in the late Qianlong period is declining.

伐那婆斯尊者唐卡背后白绫签