Page 81 - Sotheby's October 3 2017 Tantra Buddhost Art
P. 81
The Nyingjei Lam Collection contains a wide array of Tibetan
portrait sculpture from the twelfth through seventeenth
century. Without inscriptions or distinctive characteristics,
it is often a challenge to accurately identify these figures. In
the current work, the empty niches within flaming mandorlas
atop the two lotus flowers may have held miniature deities or
lamas, a rare and wonderful devotional element which may
have held the key to identifying this person or lineage of this
unnamed hierarch.
THE HEART OF TANTRA – BUDDHIST ART INCLUDING PROPERTY FROM THE NYINGJEI LAM COLLECTION 79
