Kanwal Krishna’s 1940 Dalai Lama Enthronement Portrait Sells for a Record £152,800 in London
By Tenzin Chokyi
DHARAMSALA, 6 June: The historic enthronement portrait of the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet in 1940 by distinguished Indian artist Kanwal Krishna was sold for £152,800 at the sale of “The Collection and Archive of Sir Basil Gould” in London on 5 June.
According to Bonhams Auctioneers, a leading global fine art and collectables house based in London, “The Dalai Lama on the Throne” by Krishna, auctioned for the first time, was sold for £152,800.
Krishna’s oil painting of the Dalai Lama was described as the highlight of the auction from a lot consisting of 40 original watercolours painted during Sir Basil Gould’s Mission to Lhasa in 1940.
“One of the highlights was The Dalai Lama on the throne on 22 February 1940 by Kanwal Krishna, which achieved £152,800”, stated Bonhams on its website.
The entire lot of 40 watercolours, portraying the ceremonies and key figures at the enthronement of the 14th Dalai Lama at the age of four on 22 February 1940, fetched £457,600, making it the top lot among the 49 lots offered at the sale. These artworks have reportedly never been offered at auction before.
Additionally, Gould’s archives, including seven extensive photograph albums containing over 1,500 images from his 1936-1937 British Mission to Lhasa, were sold for £57,550. Furthermore, a collection of rare Tibetan manuscripts and books, including his 1941 report on the recognition and enthronement of the 14th Dalai Lama in both English and Tibetan, was sold for £14,080 among his other collections and personal archives.
Kanwal Krsihan, a pioneering Indian modernist painter and printmaker renowned for his evocative landscapes and spiritual engagement with nature, was in Tibet during 1939-1940 as part of an official British diplomatic mission led by Sir Basil Gould, the British Political Officer for Sikkim, Bhutan and Tibet at the time.
The mission was to attend and represent the British interests at the 14th Dalai Lama’s enthronement in Lhasa, the capital of Tibet, in 1940.
Krishna was specifically brought along to visually document the journey, the people, the ceremonies, and Tibetan culture through his paintings and sketches. His watercolours from this trip provide some of the earliest visuals of Tibetan life created by Indian artists.
