Shakyamuni Buddha Thangka – 85×117 cm, Master Grade

Golden Shakyamuni Buddha sits cross-legged on a white moon disc and a lotus of pink and ochre petals edged in blue and green, touching the earth with his right hand and holding a dark blue bowl in his lap with his left, his robes covered in fine gold-coloured patterns, framed by a pale green halo, an aureole of fine rays on grey-blue and an outer gold-coloured aureole of scrollwork set with jewels.

Five smaller Buddhas sit on lotuses among clouds above him: blue, red and yellow Buddhas holding bowls along the top, a white Buddha in the teaching gesture at the upper left and a blue-green Buddha with a raised hand at the upper right.

The two chief disciples stand at either side holding staffs and bowls, and white snow lions support the throne, hung with a maroon cloth bearing a dharma wheel above jewels and tusks, before a table of offerings with a conch, a vase of flowers, a lamp, coral, a bowl of fruit and cymbals.

Pink peonies, green hills and a snow peak rise under a sky that glows yellow behind him and darkens to brown above, with grey and green clouds, inside a red border.