This is a portrait sculpture of Changkya Rolpai Dorje (1717-1786), the Buddhist teacher and close advisor of the Qianlong Emperor (1711-1799). Rising from his shoulders are a sword and book on lotuses, attributes of the bodhisattva Manjusri, of whom he is considered an emanation. In the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, portraits of famous lamas (spiritual teachers) are often used as focal points for meditative practices.Recognised at the age of three as a reincarnation of the Second Changkya lama, Rolpai Dorje was taken to Beijing in 1724 when his monastery was destroyed by Qing troops, and educated at court with the prince who later became the Qianlong Emperor. He was later appointed “Lama of the Seal”, the highest rank for a Buddhist monk in Qing China. Rolpai Dorje’s collected works contain more than two hundred titles, including the first illustrated pantheon of esoteric Buddhism, and the “Regulations and Rules on Making Statues and Images of the Buddha”.
