Malachakra Vajrapani

Tibetan Buddhism played a prominent role in the courts of the Mongolian Yuan (1279–1638) and early Chinese Ming (1368–1644) dynasties, resulting in the creation of Tibetan Buddhist art in the imperial ateliers. Here a Tibetan composition depicting a wrathful form of the deity Vajrapani deity has been re-created in the Chinese medium of silk embroidery. Fourteenth-century Tibetan lotus and vase columns featuring eagles (garuda), snakes (naga), and seamonsters (makara) are combined with Chinese-style clouds holding disks that present Vajrapani’s mantra, “om vajrapani hum phat,” in Tibetan script. Small coral beads and seed pearls are stiched into the central deity’s ornaments.