Fourth Demo Rinpoche, Lhawang Gyaltsen (1631-1668)

This monumental and imposing painting pays homage to Lhawang Tenpai Gyaltsen (1631–1668), the Fourth Demo Rinpoche, a high incarnate lama of the Geluk order. In 1653 Demo Rinpoche accompanied the Fifth Dalai Lama (1617–1682) to visit the Qing Emperor Shunzhi (reigned 1643–1661) in Beijing. The style of portraiture in this unusual painting suggests that it may have been commissioned in China while Demo Rinpoche and the Dalai Lama were in Beijing. Several details, such as the Chinese architecture atop the offering mandala before him is quite similar to three-dimensional mandalas found in Qing-dynasty monasteries in Beijing, such as the famous “Lama Temple” Yonghegong, support this attribution. However the gold inscriptions at the left and right edges of the painting, verses of blessing composed by the Fifth Dalai Lama, include the later date of 1667, complicating this interpretation.

The specific details of the teacher’s face, particularly his large nose, depart from the usual Tibetan idealized depictions of religious figures based on Indic aesthetics, which suggests that they are based on Demo’s true physiognomy. A tiny lama is depicted at his heart, likely a reference to his own guru, the Fifth Dalai Lama, who in turn has a tiny gold image of Tsongkhapa, founder of their monastic order, on his own chest.