TIBET, 16TH CENTURY

Rendered with exceptional sensitivity, this portrait sculpture faithfully depicts the Fifth Shamar, Konchock Yenlak. Identified by his long narrow face with high cheekbones and a tall red hat with upturned brims, the Fifth Shamar was a principle figure in the Karma Kagyu Tradition of Tibetan Buddhism. Shown in deep meditation, he is seated atop a square cushion with his hands held over his knees in the double-gesture of bhumisparshamudra. Voluminous robes, the hems of which have been delicately incised with floral motifs, envelope his slender form. This lifelike portrait can be compared with a painting of the esteemed throne-holder published in David Jackson’s Patron and Painter: Situ Panchen and the Revival of the Encampment Style (Rubin Museum of Art, 2009, fig. 5.3). A seventeenth-century sculpture of the Ninth Karmapa of similar quality can be found in the Rubin Museum of Art (RMA acc. # C2002.15.1; HAR 65099).