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Source Description
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.
Scholar Source Context
Document identity
localId
154391
label
Vajrapani and Garuda
core
obj
dtoType
object
pageCount
1
Source metadata
id
154391
contentType
object
title
Vajrapani and Garuda
description
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.
date
painting c. 1650; top and bottom borders c. 1350
citation
rights
CC0
rightsUri
CC0
language
en
wikidata
Q85836791
creators
64399
genreSpecific
Embroidery
imageCount
1
source
import
dimensionsRaw
Overall: 114.6 x 44.5 cm (45 1/8 x 17 1/2 in.)
cul
China and Tibet, Embroidery: China, Yuan dynasty (1279–1368); painting: Tibet
accession
1989.11
Source extras
tec
Painting: gum tempera, gold, and silver on silk; lateral borders: silk damask with needleloop embroidery; top and bottom panels: embroidered silk, lead, and silver paper; curtain: silk tabby; dowels: wood, rawhide, and leather
tombstone
Vajrapani and Garuda, painting c. 1650; top and bottom borders c. 1350. Attributed to Choying Dorje, the Tenth Black Hat Karmapa (Tibetan, 1604–1674). Painting: gum tempera, gold, and silver on silk; lateral borders: silk damask with needleloop embroidery; top and bottom panels: embroidered silk, lead, and silver paper; curtain: silk tabby; dowels: wood, rawhide, and leather; overall: 114.6 x 44.5 cm (45 1/8 x 17 1/2 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund, 1989.11
collection
Textiles
didYouKnow
Vajrapani sometimes takes the form of Garuda, enemy of snakes.
citations
citation
"1993 Annual Report." <em>The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art</em> 81, no. 6 (1994): 143–218.
page_number
Mentioned: p. 154
citation
Watt, James C. Y., Anne E. Wardwell, and Morris Rossabi. <em>When silk was gold: Central Asian and Chinese textiles</em>. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art in cooperation with the Cleveland Museum of Art, 1997.
page_number
Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 58, pp. 190–193
citation
Christie’s, New York. <em>Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, Part I: Including Property from the Arthur M. Sackler Collections</em>. March 24, 2011 sale.
page_number
Reproduced: p. 138, fig. 1; p. 139 detail
citation
von Schroeder, Ulrich. <em>The Tenth Karmapa, Tibet’s Greatest Artist : Select Sculptures and Paintings</em> = 第十世噶玛巴西藏最伟大的艺术家 = ༧རྒྱལ་དབང་ཀརྨ་པ་སྐུ་ཕྲེང་བཅུ་པ། བོད་ཀྱི་བླ་ན་མེད་པའི་སྒྱུ་རྩལ་མཁན. 1st edition. Schongau: Visual Dharma Publications, 2025.
page_number
Mentioned and Reproduced: pp. 224–225, P13
creditline
Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund
updatedAt
2026-05-29 11:27:01.371000
sourceId
154391
dept
Textiles
coll
Textiles
med
Painting: gum tempera, gold, and silver on silk; lateral borders: silk damask with needleloop embroidery; top and bottom panels: embroidered silk, lead, and silver paper; curtain: silk tabby; dowels: wood, rawhide, and leather
creatorTags
male
thumbnail_url
image_url
Single page context
seq
1
pageIndex
0
type
photo
mediaId
15f903926a8b804d