A LACQUERED STONE SCULPTURE OF PHAGMO DRUPA DORJE GYALPO
Tibet, 17th century
The religious seated on a rectangular section base decorated in relief on three sides with mythological figures and animals, wearing a wide dress, shaved head and a smiling expression.
13 cm high
Provenance: Fabrizio Savi collection, acquired in the early 2000s.
The lama here depicted could be Phagmo Drupa Dorje Gyalpo (1110-1170), the first monk of some influence in the monastery of Densatil, exponent of the Kagyu current and famous for the importance attributed to meditation. A sculpture that portrays him, earlier but iconographically close to this, is in the Cleveland Museum of Art (D. Weldon - J. Casey Singer, The Sculptural Heritage of Tibet. Buddhist Art in the Nyingjei Collection, London 1999, p. 135 , fig. 51).