Unknown
Sonam Tsemo (1142-1182)16th century

Not on view

No image

Artist or Maker: Unknown
Title: Sonam Tsemo (1142-1182)
Place Made: Eastern Tibet, a Sakyapa Monastery
Date Made: 16th century
Medium: Leaded brass inlaid with silver and copper; traces of paint
Dimensions: 7 1/4 x 5 1/2 x 4 3/16 in. (18.4 x 13.97 x 10.63 cm)
Credit Line: Gift of Doris and Ed Wiener
Accession Number: M.72.108.3
Classification: Sculpture
Collecting Area: South and Southeast Asian Art
Curatorial Notes: Sonam Tsemo (1142-1182), also known as Lobpon (teacher or master) Rinpoche Sonam Tsemo, was a founding patriarch of the Sakya sect. He was a lay scholar who is honored for his systematization of tantric doctrine and literature. Unlike Sakyapa monks who are depicted with short hair, Sonam Tsemo is shown with long hair and a richly embroidered outer robe (sanghati) indicating that he never took the full set of monastic vows and remained a layperson. Sonam Tsemo is typically shown with two iconographies. In the first, as represented here, his hands are held in the teaching gesture of Turning the Wheel of the Law (dharmachakra mudra or dharmachakra-pravartana mudra). In the second, see M.70.57, he holds the ritual emblems of the Sakyapa hierarchs: the thunderbolt (vajra) and the bell (ghanta). He is seated in the meditation posture (padma asana) on a lotus base.

A Tibetan inscription around the front of the base reads, Veneration to the reverend Sonam Tsemo. Good fortune! (Translation by H. E. Richardson.)

See Himalayan Art Resources, no. 85711, https://www.himalayanart.org/items/85711

See also M.81.90.1.
Selected Bibliography: Pal, Pratapaditya. Art of Tibet. Los Angeles; Berkeley, CA: Los Angeles County Museum of Art; University of California Press, 1983.
Fisher, Robert E. Art of Tibet. London: Thames and Hudson, 1997.
Reedy, Chandra L. Himalayan Bronzes: Technology, Style and Choices. Newark: University of Delaware Press, 1997.
Rhie, Marylin M. and Robert A.F. Thurman. Wisdom and Compassion: The Sacred Art of Tibet. New York: Tibet House, 1991.
Fisher, Robert E. Mystics and Mandalas: Bronzes and Paintings of Tibet and Nepal. Redlands, CA: University of Redlands, 1974.
Pal, Pratapaditya. Art of Tibet. Expanded edition. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1990.

Unknown
Sonam Tsemo (1142-1182)16th century

Not on view

No image

Artist or Maker: Unknown
Title: Sonam Tsemo (1142-1182)
Place Made: Eastern Tibet, a Sakyapa Monastery
Date Made: 16th century
Medium: Leaded brass inlaid with silver and copper; traces of paint
Dimensions: 7 1/4 x 5 1/2 x 4 3/16 in. (18.4 x 13.97 x 10.63 cm)
Credit Line: Gift of Doris and Ed Wiener
Accession Number: M.72.108.3
Classification: Sculpture
Collecting Area: South and Southeast Asian Art
Curatorial Notes: Sonam Tsemo (1142-1182), also known as Lobpon (teacher or master) Rinpoche Sonam Tsemo, was a founding patriarch of the Sakya sect. He was a lay scholar who is honored for his systematization of tantric doctrine and literature. Unlike Sakyapa monks who are depicted with short hair, Sonam Tsemo is shown with long hair and a richly embroidered outer robe (sanghati) indicating that he never took the full set of monastic vows and remained a layperson. Sonam Tsemo is typically shown with two iconographies. In the first, as represented here, his hands are held in the teaching gesture of Turning the Wheel of the Law (dharmachakra mudra or dharmachakra-pravartana mudra). In the second, see M.70.57, he holds the ritual emblems of the Sakyapa hierarchs: the thunderbolt (vajra) and the bell (ghanta). He is seated in the meditation posture (padma asana) on a lotus base.

A Tibetan inscription around the front of the base reads, Veneration to the reverend Sonam Tsemo. Good fortune! (Translation by H. E. Richardson.)

See Himalayan Art Resources, no. 85711, https://www.himalayanart.org/items/85711

See also M.81.90.1.
Selected Bibliography: Pal, Pratapaditya. Art of Tibet. Los Angeles; Berkeley, CA: Los Angeles County Museum of Art; University of California Press, 1983.
Fisher, Robert E. Art of Tibet. London: Thames and Hudson, 1997.
Reedy, Chandra L. Himalayan Bronzes: Technology, Style and Choices. Newark: University of Delaware Press, 1997.
Rhie, Marylin M. and Robert A.F. Thurman. Wisdom and Compassion: The Sacred Art of Tibet. New York: Tibet House, 1991.
Fisher, Robert E. Mystics and Mandalas: Bronzes and Paintings of Tibet and Nepal. Redlands, CA: University of Redlands, 1974.
Pal, Pratapaditya. Art of Tibet. Expanded edition. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1990.