Skip to main content
The Walters Art Museum

Online Collection

Explore the Art Collection keyboard_arrow_down close
  • Explore By...
  • Category
  • Date
  • Medium
  • Creator
  • Places
  • Museum Locations
The Walters Art Museum walters-logo-white
  • Calendar
  • Art
  • Shop
  • Give Now
  • Visit
    • Plan Your Visit
    • Hours
    • Directions & Parking
    • Food, Drink, & Shop
    • Free Admission
    • Tours
    • Accessibility
    • Visitor Promise
  • Experience
    • Virtual Museum
    • Exhibitions & Installations
    • Programs & Events
    • Collections
    • Buildings
    • Baltimore
  • Support
    • Support the Walters
    • Corporate Partnerships
    • Institutional Funders
    • Evening at the Walters
    • Volunteers
  • About
    • Mission & Vision
    • Leadership
    • Strategic Plan
    • Land Acknowledgment
    • Research
    • Policies
Image for Portrait of a Tibetan Monk
tooltip-icon Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Zero

Download Image Zoom
Image for Portrait of a Tibetan Monk
tooltip-icon Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Zero

Download Image Zoom
  • arrow_forward_ios
  • arrow_forward_ios
Portrait of a Tibetan Monk Thumbnail
Portrait of a Tibetan Monk Thumbnail
Portrait of a Tibetan Monk Thumbnail
Portrait of a Tibetan Monk Thumbnail

Portrait of a Tibetan Monk

Tibetan (Artist)
12th century
tempera on cloth
(India, Nepal, and Tibet)

Wearing the robes of a Tibetan Buddhist monk, the individual depicted in this portrait was probably a teacher of the Kadampa order. The painting’s patron, perhaps a disciple of the monk, is seen in the lower left corner, gazing toward the teacher. Sitting before an altar and holding an offering lamp, he too wears monk’s robes but has the long hair of a layman. The four deities to the right of the altar are especially important within the Kadampa tradition: from left to right we see the female Buddha Prajnaparmita ( previously identified as the female bodhisattva White Tara), the male bodhisattva Shadakshari Avalokiteshvara, the goddess-bodhisattva Green Tara, and the wrathful buddha Achala. Seated along the top register are the five celestial buddhas and a four-armed goddess, probably Prajnaparamita (“Perfect Wisdom”), considered the mother of all buddhas and the embodiment of wisdom. Below them, the historical Buddha, Shakyamuni, and the blue medicine buddha flank the monk at the center. Framed by multicolored lozenge shapes representing jewels, the portrait was painted in a style first developed in eastern India, home to many sites of Buddhist pilgrimage and birthplace of the eleventh-century master Atisha, whose teachings were foundational to the Kadampa tradition.

Provenance
Provenance (from the French provenir, 'to come from/forth') is the chronology of the ownership, custody, or location of a historical object. Learn more about provenance at the Walters.

David Salmon, London; purchased by John and Berthe Ford, Baltimore, October 1987; given to Walters Art Museum, 2015.

Exhibitions

2011-2012 Mirror of the Buddha. Rubin Museum of Art, New York.
2001-2003 Desire and Devotion: Art from India, Nepal, and Tibet in the John and Berthe Ford Collection. The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore; Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Santa Barbara; Albuquerque Museum, Albuquerque; Birmingham Museum of Art, Birmingham; Hong Kong Museum of Art, Hong Kong.
Share
  • social-item
  • social-item
  • social-item

Geographies

Tibet (Place of Origin)

Measurements

H: 13 7/8 x W: 10 13/16 in. (35.24 x 27.4 cm)

Credit Line

Gift of John and Berthe Ford, 2015

Location in Museum

Not on view

Accession Number

In libraries, galleries, museums, and archives, an accession number is a unique identifier assigned to each object in the collection.

35.320

Do you have additional information?

Notify the curator

Hours

  • Wednesday—Sunday: 10 a.m.—5 p.m.
  • Thursday: 1–8 p.m.
  • Monday—Tuesday: Closed

Location

600 N. Charles St.
Baltimore, MD
21201

Phone

410-547-9000

  • Visit
  • Experience
  • What's On
  • About
  • Shop
  • Support The Walters
copyright

The Walters Art Museum

  • Accessibility
  • Privacy Policy/Terms of Use
  • Copyright Info
  • facebook
  • instagram
  • twitter
modal close
Image for
tooltip-icon Creative Commons License

Tooltip description to define this term for visitors to the website.

zoom-btn zoom-btn preview-download
Image for
tooltip-icon Creative Commons License

Tooltip description to define this term for visitors to the website.

zoom-btn zoom-btn preview-download
  • arrow_forward_ios
  • arrow_forward_ios