TIBET OR CHINA, LATE 18TH CENTURY

he present bronze depicts Changkya Rolpai Dorje, the Third Changkya of the Changkya Khutukhtu lineage, and the preeminent lama of the Qing imperial court during the reign of the Qianlong Emperor in the eighteenth century. Born to a nomadic family in the Gansu region, Rolpai Dorje was recognized at an early age as the reincarnation of the First Changkya, and was invested at Gönlung Monastery in Amdo. After the monastery was destroyed by the Manchu army in retaliation for a rebellion, the young Rolpai Dorje was brought to the Qing court in Beijing at the insistence of the Yongzheng Emperor, where he was educated alongside the future Qianlong Emperor. In his travels to Tibet, Rolpai Dorje learned from the Fifth Panchen Lama and the Seventh Dalai Lama, and later became the personal Buddhist teacher of the Qianlong Emperor. His position as an important lama based in Beijing (his residence was in the Yonghe Monastery, formerly the Yonghegong Palace) meant he acted as an intermediary between the Qing court and Tibetan and Mongolian religious institutions. He was also an important scholar, translator and iconometrist, and helped to develop and codify the representation of Buddhist figures in imperial art.