
Mark Rasmussen
International Director
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Sold for US$23,750 inc. premium
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International Director
The present portrait bares close resemblance to a portrait suggested to be a Dalai Lama in Dinwiddie (ed.), Potraits of the Masters, London, 2003, p. 315, no. 88. In this example he holds the customary sutra page in his left with the right in the act of teaching. For an inscribed portrait of the Great Fifth Dalai Lama in Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, see Rhie and Thurman Wisdom and Compassion, 1991, pl. 98, which shows him with sutra pages, purba in the robes, and the right hand with an earth touching mudra.
In the absence of an inscription and the lack of a purba tucked into the folds of his robes indicate that our portrait is more likely another important Gelugpa heirarch. The presence of the long-life vase (kalsa) and the teaching mudra are also associated with portraits of the Panchen Lama.
Another unidentified lama holding a kalsa and in the teaching mudra is held in the Tibet House Museum, New Delhi (HAR #71833 - http://www.himalayanart.org/image.cfm/71833.html). Also compare with a portrait of Lobzang Gyatso with similar double cushion and cascading robes sold at Bonhams, New York, 18 September 2013, lot 30.