Vajracharya Priest’s Crown

Enlarge My gallery Comment Tag Share Download Image*
https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/collections.lacma.org-images/remote_images/ma-52273-O3.jpg?cD4j6OLELZ8QKyuu176GE0vs62cfh86X
View comments
No comments have been posted yet.
Add a comment
Please log in to add comments.
Enter your LACMA Collections username.
Enter the password that accompanies your username.
New to our collections website? Sign up to create an account and start saving your favorites. Please note that this account is not the same as the MyLACMA account you may have for ticketing and membership transactions.
Download powerpoint quality jpeg Download publication quality tiff
Current tags
This item has not been tagged yet.
Please log in to add tags.
Enter your LACMA Collections username.
Enter the password that accompanies your username.
New to our collections website? Sign up to create an account and start saving your favorites. Please note that this account is not the same as the MyLACMA account you may have for ticketing and membership transactions.
* Nearly 20,000 images of artworks the museum believes to be in the public domain are available to download on this site. Other images may be protected by copyright and other intellectual property rights. By using any of these images you agree to LACMA's Terms of Use.

Vajracharya Priest’s Crown

Nepal, 12th century
Jewelry and Adornments; crowns
Gilt copper alloy (embossed and cast), inlaid with lapis lazuli, turquoise, rock crystal, and other gemstones
Overall: 11 x 10 7/16 x 8 3/8 in. (27.94 x 26.5113 x 21.2725 cm)
Gift of The Ahmanson Foundation (M.81.67)
South and Southeast Asian Art
Not currently on public view

Curator Notes

This elaborate crown was worn by a Nepalese Buddhist priest known as the Vajracharya (Master of the Thunderbolt) during public ceremonies to identify him or her ritually as the primordial teacher Vajr...
This elaborate crown was worn by a Nepalese Buddhist priest known as the Vajracharya (Master of the Thunderbolt) during public ceremonies to identify him or her ritually as the primordial teacher Vajrasattva (Adamantine Being). The crown is adorned with images of the five transcendental Jina Buddhas: Vairochana (front), Ratnasambhava (proper right), Amitabha (rear), Amoghasiddhi (proper left), and Akshobhya (symbolized by the thunderbolt (vajra) surmounting the crown). These five Buddhas, who are emanations of Adi Buddha (Primordial Enlightened One), represent the state and qualities of Buddhahood and the essence of Buddhist Dharma. Each Buddha has a specific insight, symbol, color, vehicle, and rules a cardinal direction or the zenith. They each sit on a lotus base in a gemstone-bordered cartouche above an apotropaic “face of glory” (kirttimukha). Comparable Vajracharya Priest’s Crowns are in Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (2016.408), Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond (84.41), and the Musée Guimet, Paris (MA 4929). The Paris crown has a Newar inscription identifying the commissioner, monastery, and monk-goldsmith who made the crown in 1145.
More...

Bibliography

  • Pal, Pratapaditya.  "Cosmic Vision and Buddhist Images."  Art International vol. XXV, no. 1-2 (1982):  8-40.
  • Pal, Pratapaditya. Art of Nepal. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art; University of California Press, 1985.
  • Pal, Pratapaditya.  "Cosmic Vision and Buddhist Images."  Art International vol. XXV, no. 1-2 (1982):  8-40.
  • Pal, Pratapaditya. Art of Nepal. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art; University of California Press, 1985.
  • Pal, Pratapaditya. "Art and Ritual in Buddhism." Asian Art vol. II, no. 3 (Summer 1989):  33-55.
More...