Vajrapani Embroidered Mount with Garuda
- Medium
- Opaque watercolor, gold, and silver on silk
- Dimensions
- Overall: 40.6 x 6.7 cm (16 x 2 5/8 in.)
- Genre
- embroidery
- Museum
- Cleveland Museum of Art
Styles
Tags
China and Tibet, Embroidery: China, Yuan dynasty (1279-1368); painting: Tibet, 17th century
About
The painting depicts the Buddhist protector who holds (<em>pani</em>) the thunder bolt (<em>vajra</em>) in his right hand. He kneels in reverence and holds his left hand in a gesture of salute. This unusual image appears to have been the vision of a Tibetan monastic patriarch known for creating his own inventive paintings and sculptures. <br><br>Sewn to the painting are Chinese damask borders and rare embroideries dating to the Chinese Yuan dynasty (1279–1368). They depict man-eagle figures known as Garuda, a form occasionally assumed by Vajrapani.
