Page 48 - Bonhams NYC Portraits of the Masters Bronzes march 2017

Immaculate and magisterial, the bronze bespeaks an order at the height of its power.
As the followers of Pagmodrupa (1110-70) organized themselves into offshoots after
his cremation, Rinchen Pel and his Drigung order, founded in 1179, emerged as the
more aggressive and dominant. There is even a record of him taking possession of the
reliquary of Pagmodrupa’s heart from Densatil monastery in 1208, until enough pressure
mounted for him to return it. Indeed, between the time that the Drigung established
relations with the Mongols in 1222, to their loss of Yuan patronage under Kubilai Khan
c.1260, the order enjoyed vast political power and wealth, representing a broad sweep of
kingdoms in Central and Western Tibet to the Ilkhanate (Stoddard, “’Bri Gung, Sa Skya
and Mongol Patronage”, in Dating Tibetan Art, Wiesbaden, 2003, p.66).
Stoddard argues that images such as the present lot might be copies of a principal cult
image of Rinchen Pel, created within his lifetime at Drigung monastery by a Chinese
artist. Called the ‘Lord of the Golden Temple’, it was said to be no different from the
master himself. Stoddard asserts that Rinchen Pel’s chief disciple also commissioned
many other sculptures of the master by this Chinese artist. Meanwhile, there is an
ongoing discussion as to why bronzes like the Guimet, Potala, and present example are
often called ‘Mongol images’ (hor sku) by Drigung lamas. While Stoddard infers this is
because they were commissioned by Mongol rulers, Jackson contends that it is simply
due to their production in a period of Mongol rule (op. cit. p.38). Credible sources also
inform us that from 1198, Rinchen Pel employed the skills of Newari casters for at least
a decade to create the prototype of the Densatil stupas at Drigung Monastery (Czaja &
Proser, p.184).
Published
Portraits of the Masters, pp.192-3, no.46.
Published & Exhibited
Monasterios y Lamas del Tibet, p.223, no.200.

46 | BONHAMS