ABS 034
Code: ABS 034
Country: Tibet (central)
Style:
Date: 1500 - 1550
Dimensions in cm WxHxD: 27.1 x 35.5 x 20.6
Materials: Brass
Hollow cast in one piece.
The lips are inlaid with copper.
The monastic garment is intricately decorated with engraved ornaments.
The bottom of the image is sealed with a plain sheet of copper.
The monastic master, identified by the inscription as Rwa ston yon tan dpal bzang, is seated in the diamond attitude (vajraparyaṅkāsana) on a double lotus pedestal with beaded borders. He displays the “gesture of setting in motion the Wheel of the Law” (dharmacakra-pravartana-mudrā) and is clad with the triple monastic garments (tricivara). The fact that the master is shown seated on a lotus pedestal is a possible indication this statue was commissioned after his death as in Tibet deceased monks are usually represented on lotus pedestal otherwise they are shown seated on cushions or without any pedestal.
On the upper side of the pedestal is a Tibetan inscription in dBu can script with the name of the represented character:
༄། རྭ་སྟོན་ཡོན་ཏན་དཔལ་བཟང་པོ་ལ་ན་མོ། ཉེར་དྲུག །
/ rwa ston yon tan dpal bzang la na mo / nyer drug /
“Homage to Rwa ston yon tan dpal bzang. Twenty six.”
Around the lower edge of the lotus pedestal is a single line dedicatory Tibetan inscription in dBu can script:
༄། བདག་འཇཾ་དབྱངས་རིན་ཆེན་རྒྱལ་མཆན་གྱི་བསཾ་བ་ཡིད་བཞིན་དུ་འགྲུབ་པར་མཛད་དུ་གསོལ། མཾ་ག་ལཾ།།
/ bdag ’jaṃ dbyangs rin chen rgyal mchan [mtshan] gyi bsaṃ ba yid bzhin du ’grub par mdzad du gsol / maṃ ga laṃ [mangalaṃ] //
“I, ’Jam dbyangs rin chen rgyal mtshan, requests that [this statue] is executed according to my spirit and my thinking. Auspicious!”
Rwa ston yon tan dpal bzang (d. 1509) is a Sa skya pa teacher, master of the renowned Glo bo mkhan chen bSod nams lhun grub (1456-1532) from Mustang.
The donor of the statue, ’Jam dbyangs rin chen rgyal mtshan is most likely connected to the royal family of Mustang. David Jackson in his Mollas of Mustang (1984, pp. 125-6; 134) presents a ‘Genealogy of the Lo Monthang Kings,’ proposing a possible identification of ’Jam dbyangs rin chen rgyal mtshan as A drung, son of brTan pa’i rgya mtsho and nephew of the king mGon po rgyal mtshan grags pa mtha’ yas (fl. c. 1505).
As the inscription indicates, the statue is the 26th of a set, possibly followed by other portraits of masters including Glo bo mkhan chen, this could place the production of this statue around the mid-16th century.
The lips are inlaid with copper.
The monastic garment is intricately decorated with engraved ornaments.
The bottom of the image is sealed with a plain sheet of copper.
The monastic master, identified by the inscription as Rwa ston yon tan dpal bzang, is seated in the diamond attitude (vajraparyaṅkāsana) on a double lotus pedestal with beaded borders. He displays the “gesture of setting in motion the Wheel of the Law” (dharmacakra-pravartana-mudrā) and is clad with the triple monastic garments (tricivara). The fact that the master is shown seated on a lotus pedestal is a possible indication this statue was commissioned after his death as in Tibet deceased monks are usually represented on lotus pedestal otherwise they are shown seated on cushions or without any pedestal.
On the upper side of the pedestal is a Tibetan inscription in dBu can script with the name of the represented character:
༄། རྭ་སྟོན་ཡོན་ཏན་དཔལ་བཟང་པོ་ལ་ན་མོ། ཉེར་དྲུག །
/ rwa ston yon tan dpal bzang la na mo / nyer drug /
“Homage to Rwa ston yon tan dpal bzang. Twenty six.”
Around the lower edge of the lotus pedestal is a single line dedicatory Tibetan inscription in dBu can script:
༄། བདག་འཇཾ་དབྱངས་རིན་ཆེན་རྒྱལ་མཆན་གྱི་བསཾ་བ་ཡིད་བཞིན་དུ་འགྲུབ་པར་མཛད་དུ་གསོལ། མཾ་ག་ལཾ།།
/ bdag ’jaṃ dbyangs rin chen rgyal mchan [mtshan] gyi bsaṃ ba yid bzhin du ’grub par mdzad du gsol / maṃ ga laṃ [mangalaṃ] //
“I, ’Jam dbyangs rin chen rgyal mtshan, requests that [this statue] is executed according to my spirit and my thinking. Auspicious!”
Rwa ston yon tan dpal bzang (d. 1509) is a Sa skya pa teacher, master of the renowned Glo bo mkhan chen bSod nams lhun grub (1456-1532) from Mustang.
The donor of the statue, ’Jam dbyangs rin chen rgyal mtshan is most likely connected to the royal family of Mustang. David Jackson in his Mollas of Mustang (1984, pp. 125-6; 134) presents a ‘Genealogy of the Lo Monthang Kings,’ proposing a possible identification of ’Jam dbyangs rin chen rgyal mtshan as A drung, son of brTan pa’i rgya mtsho and nephew of the king mGon po rgyal mtshan grags pa mtha’ yas (fl. c. 1505).
As the inscription indicates, the statue is the 26th of a set, possibly followed by other portraits of masters including Glo bo mkhan chen, this could place the production of this statue around the mid-16th century.
Jackson, David P., 1984. The Mollas of Mustang: historical, religious and oratorical traditions of the Nepalese-Tibetan borderland. Dharamsala: Library of Tibetan Works & Archives.
Lo Bue, Erberto and Ricca, Franco, 1990. Gyantse Revisited. Firenze: Casa Editrice Le Lettere & Torino: Cesmeo. Pp. 67, 68, 266, 340, 342–43, 344 - References to "Rwa ston yon tan"