Page 54 - Bonhams NYC Portraits of the Masters Bronzes march 2017

3243
A GILT COPPER ALLOY FIGURE OF THE FIFTH KARMAPA, DESHIN SHEKPA
TIBET, 15TH/16TH CENTURY
Inscription translated, ‘I prostrate at the feet of Lord Deshin Shekpa’.
Himalayan Art Resources item no.2265
7 1/8 in. (18 cm) high

US$150,000 - 200,000

西藏 十五／十六世紀 銅鎏金五世噶玛巴德新謝巴像

The 14th century witnessed the fall of the Yuan (1271-1368) and the rise of the Ming
dynasty (1368-1644). Seeing the spiritual and political merits of forming alliances with
Tibetan Buddhist leaders, the early Ming Yongle emperor (r.1402-24) wished to reinstate
the ‘priest-patron’ relationship that Kubilai Khan (r.1260-94) had formerly introduced.
He thus dispatched numerous envoys to the eminent hierarchs of various orders. None
were particularly eager to answer his call. Tsongkhapa (1357-1419) was too frail, and the
Kagyu dispatched the neophyte (and replaceable) Fifth Karmapa Deshin Shekpa (1384-
1415) to test the waters with China’s new emperor, who had emerged victorious after a
contentious struggle for the throne.

From the Yongle emperor, Deshin Shekpa received a glorious bejeweled black crown
said to be inspired by the emperor’s perception of a black hat that always rests upon
a Karmapa’s head, but that few are spiritually adept enough to see. Legend has it that
this mythical hat, made of 100,000 strands of dakini hair, was conferred on the First
Karmapa, Dusum Kyenpa (1110-93) by the mahasiddha Saraha (c.8th century) in a
vision. The tangible crown gifted to Deshin Shekpa naturally became an important relic
for the Karmapas, only unveiled during special ritual observances. Upon his return to
Tibet, Deshin Shekpa settled in the old palace of the Yarlung kings in Lhasa, around
which the Potala Palace of the Dalai Lamas was later built. He died at 32.

This distinctive and superior portrait depicts the young Karmapa, thickly cast and richly
gilded, forwarding the Dharma on an elaborately conceived animal skin and cloud-
patterned cushion.

Published
Portraits of the Masters, pp.166-9, no.31.
David P. Jackson, Patron and Painter: Situ Panchen and the Revival of the Encampment
Style, New York, 2009, p.68, fig.3.56 (misattributed to the Nyingjei Lam Collection).

Published & Exhibited
Monasterios y Lamas del Tibet, p.177, no.125.

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