Portraits of Two Lineage Masters of the Kagyu Order: Phagmo Drupa (1110–1170) and Tashipel (1142–1210)
c. 1236–1310
The Cleveland Museum of Art
Cleveland, United States
High-level leaders of Buddhist monastic institutions were frequent portrait subjects of early <em>thangka </em>painting (devotional cloth scrolls) in Central Tibet. The lama (Tibetan monk) on the right founded Taklung Monastery in Lhasa, the capital of Tibet, which became an important institutional center of the Kagyu order. He is shown in discourse with his predecessor, whose teacher Gampopa (1079–1153), in turn, is the tiny gray-haired lama centered above them, between the colorful stylized mountain ranges.
Their halos, lotus pedestal, and thrones with spitting elephant-trunked crocodiles and rearing griffins elevate them to the level of Buddhas and bodhisattvas. Despite their deification, they are still depicted with individualized facial features.
- Title: Portraits of Two Lineage Masters of the Kagyu Order: Phagmo Drupa (1110–1170) and Tashipel (1142–1210)
- Date Created: c. 1236–1310
- Physical Dimensions: Overall: 51.4 x 39.4 cm (20 1/4 x 15 1/2 in.)
- Provenance: (David Tremayne Ltd., London, UK, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art), The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
- Type: Painting
- Rights: CC0
- External Link: https://clevelandart.org/art/1987.146
- Medium: Gum tempera on sized cotton
- Inscriptions: [1] ōṃ ŌṂ [2] sa rva vyid [3] svā hā// ōṃ [4] su pra ti ṣṭha vajra [5] svā hā// ye dha [6] rma he tu pra bha vā he tun te śan [7] ta tha ga to hya va tad de ṣan ca [8] yo ni ro dha ye vaṃ vā [9] ti ma [hā] śra [ma] ṇa// bzod [10] pa dka’ A thub bzod [11] daṃ pa ni[//] mya ngan ’das [12] ces sangs rgyas gsung// [13] rab tu byung ba gzhan la gnod pa ni dang// [14] gzhan la ’tshe HŪṂ ba de ni dge sbyong ma [15] yin no//, [1] ōṃ ŌṂ [2] sa rva vyid svā [3] hā// ōṃ su pra [4] ti ṣṭha vajra svā hā// [5] ye dha rma he tu pra bha vā he tun te śan ta tha ga to [6] hya va tad de ṣan ca yo ni ro dha e vaṃ vā ṭi ma hā [7] śra ma na ye// bzod pa dka’ thub [8] bzod pa daṃ pa ni// mya ngan pa [9] ’das ces A sangs rgyas gsung: [10] rab tu byung ba gzhan la gnod pa dang[//] gzhan la ’tshe ba [11] de ni dge sbyong ma yin HŪṂ no// ōṃ ma ni pad me hūṃ
- Fun Fact: The Five Cosmic Buddhas in their six-armed forms are aligned at the top.
- Department: Indian and Southeast Asian Art
- Culture: Central Tibet
- Credit Line: John L. Severance Fund
- Collection: Tibetan Art
- Accession Number: 1987.146
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