Untitled

Unknown

14th century · Copper alloy with copper and silver inlay · Asian Art

This portrait of Guru Padmasambhava (Lotus-Born) is one of the earliest known effigies of the eighth-century Indian mystic, revered as the leading propagator of tantric Buddhism in Tibet. He is believed to have gone to Tibet at the invitation of King Trisong Detsen and there founded the Nyingma Order of Tibetan Buddhism. Popularly known as Guru Rinpoche, here he sits enthroned in a yogic posture and holds a thunderbolt scepter (vajra), symbolizing the clarity of pure Buddhist thought, and a skull cup (kapala), representing detachment. He wears the distinctive cloth cap of his order and has distended earlobes, the mark of an enlightened being. His facial expression is accessible, attentive, and spiritually alive. A dedicatory inscription names a royal patron: Kunga Gyalpo, an otherwise unknown ruler from Western Tibet or Ladakh.

Artist

Unknown

Date

14th century

Medium

Copper alloy with copper and silver inlay

Culture

Western Tibet or Ladakh

Department

Asian Art

Credit line

Zimmerman Family Collection, Purchase, Lila Acheson Wallace, The Vincent Astor Foundation, Eliot C. Nolen, T. Rowe Price Services, Inc. and Sir Joseph Hotung Gifts; Seymour and The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Foundation Funds, 2012