A very rare inscribed gilt-bronze figure of the seventh Dalai Lama, Kalzang Gyatso

18th century

Footnotes

十八世紀 銅鎏金七世達賴喇嘛坐像

Provenance: a distinguished private European collection, acquired in the first half of the 20th century by repute

來源：顯貴歐洲私人收藏，傳購於二十世紀前半葉

This outstanding depiction of the Seventh Dalai Lama is one of the rarest and finest examples of gilt bronze portraiture in Tibetan art of the 18th century.

According to a legend, his birth in 1708 was accompanied by marvellous events, hence his name, Kelzang Gyatso, 'The Ocean of Good Fortune', bestowed upon him by his maternal uncle. The Lama received the patronage of the Kangxi, Yongzheng and Qianlong Emperors.

When Kelzang Gyatso reached eight years of age, the Kangxi Emperor, following the precedents established by his father's relation with the Fifth Dalai Lama, sent representatives of the Court so that a combined Chinese-Tibetan-Mongol cavalry could escort the Lama to Kumbum. It was here that Kelzang Gyatso was enthroned and an Imperial proclamation was publicly read, affirming that 'this emanation is the veritable rebirth of the former Dalai Lama ... As the Omniscient One comes into the world like the sun, which cannot be blocked out with the hand, the light rays of his compassion and enlightened deeds embrace the whole world, so that the Buddha's teaching expands and increases.'

In 1720 the Kangxi Emperor sent his own fourteenth son, the prince Yinti, to accompany the Dalai Lama to Lhasa, together with leading representatives of Tibetan Buddhism at the Qing Court and Manchu, Chinese and Mongol military leaders. During the same year, Kelzang Gyatso was ordained by the foremost Gelug master of the day, the Fifth Paṇchen Lama, Lobzang Yeshe (1663-1737), who gave him the monastic name Lobzang Kelzang Gyatso (blo bzang skal bzang rgya mtsho).

During the Yongzheng period, the Emperor accepted the Dalai Lama's petition to the Court ordering that monasteries previously damaged in reprisals be rebuilt with Imperial funds, thus extending the Imperial patronage. He spent several years in exile, following geopolitical struggles and the increasing Manchu attempts to formalise their rule in Tibet, but returned in 1735 to Lhasa accompanied, under the order of the Yongzheng Emperor, with a royal entourage of five hundred religious, civil and military representatives, which included Changkya Rolpai Dorje.

Following the ascension of the Qianlong Emperor to the throne, Changkya Rolpai Dorje recommended the political assertion of the Seventh Dalai Lama in Tibet, which proved to be an unforeseen political success due to his personal reputation for learning and spiritual integrity as well as his status.

As an exponent of the Gelugpa, or Yellow Hat School, the Lama's teachings focused on the Mahayana principle of universal compassion as the fundamental spiritual orientation, and a systematic cultivation of the view of emptiness. In the field of politics, the Lama established a number of institutions, such as the Kashnak, a leadership cabinet that remained at the apex of the secular administration in Tibet until 1959. He also founded a school specialising in calligraphy, literary arts and astrology, the primary subjects required for Tibetan government service, and an archival office that regulated all aspects of Tibetan secular and monastic culture. His literary works, collected in seven volumes, include exemplary instructions for contemplation and advice for the Buddhist religious life.

Gilt bronze images of the Kelzang Gyatso are very rare. A smaller, and less elaborate, gilt bronze figure of the Seventh Dalai Lama, 18th century, is illustrated by E.Dinwiddie, Potraits of The Masters, Chicago, 2003,p.314, fig.87. Another gilt figure of the Seventh Lama is illustrated in the Beijing Capital Museum, The Goddess of Mercy in Buddhism - Chinese Ancient Avalokiteshvara bodhisattva, Beijing, 2008, p.238, fig28. See also a thangka depicting the Dalai Lama, 18th century, from the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated by D.Jackson, The Place of Provenance. Regional Styles in Tibetan Painting, New York, 2012, p.43, fig.3.16. For a gilt-bronze figure of Rolpay Dorje, 18th century, displaying similarly decorated cushions, in the State Hermitage, St Petersburg, see M.Rhye, The Sacred Art of Tibet, New York, 1991, p.276, fig.100.