Description: A WESTERN TIBETAN INSCRIBED GILT BRONZE FIGURE OF A KAGYU LAMA 17TH CENTURY
Cast in bronze with fine gilding, depicting a Kagyu lama seated in padmasana, dressed in robes with brocade edging and the high hat of the Drukpa Kagyu, his right hand in vitarkamudra, the left folding a manuscript on his lap. The cast bronze figure is seated atop a gilt repousse double lotus throne, with red cinnabar pigment at the top, and an inscription reading '/Sri med thugs sras lha tsun (for la btsun) dge'o bkra shis/', meaning 'The Most Excellent and Noble Renunciate Lhatsun Who is Inseparable from his Heart-Sons, May Virtue and Happiness Prevail'.
19.5cm high, 13cm wide
PROVENANCE:
Kitty Higgins, Trocadero Gallery, Washington DC
Dr Raul Vispo Collection
Soo Tze Oriental Antiques, 2011
EXHIBITIONS:
Exhibited in Oglethorpe University Museum of Art, Atlanta Georgia USA, The Many Faces of the Buddha (September-November 1986), pp62, catalogue number 25.
Exhibited at the National Gallery of Victoria, March-November 2014.
OTHER NOTES:
'Lha btsun', or 'noble renunciate' refers to a noble who has given up worldly life for religious life. Heart brothers refers to those a person is close to in their spiritual practice, particularly students. This image is likely that of the 17th century Sikkimese Lhatsun Jigme Namkha (1595-1650), a Nyingmapa Dzogchen Lama, a Tibetan lama famed for opening up the hidden land of Sikkim to Buddhists as a place to do spiritual practice.
Condition Report: Condition:
Somewear to the gilding especially at the high points. Coal and turquoise cabochon stones are probably a later replacement. Repousse base significantly dented and misshapen. The opinions expressed in the condition reports are a guide only and should not be treated as a statement of fact. Prospective buyers are encouraged to inspect articles for sale at our pre-sale viewing where Leonard Joel staff are available for advice. Leonard Joel makes no guarantee of the originality of mechanical or applied components. Absence of reference to such modifications does not imply that a lot is free from modifications.