Lotus Position | Rubin Museum of Himalayan Art

Rubin Museum of Art

Art 127

Embroidered white and black animals, two black ravens, and human figures populate a light blue background. Skulls and beaded strings decorate the upper edge, with black animals in the lower portion. A dark, blue-skinned figure sits at center, one of three human figures. There are seven animals, including a white Bactrian camel and a black snow lion devouring a corpse. All represent symbolic offerings.

Symbolic Offerings

Mongolia, 19th century

Two richly dressed figures stand side-by-side, facing frontally, against a dark background. Smaller seated figures of monks in circular motifs appear at the upper and lower portions of the painting.

Bodhisattvas Samantabhadra and Vajrapani

Central Asia, 16th century

A detailed painting showing multiple deities, with a central seated figure and consort above and a fierce multi-armed deity and consort dancing within a ring of flames below. Other smaller deities in various poses are arranged around the three largest deities. A landscape with small human and nonhuman figures appears at the bottom.

Ratnasambhava, Ratna Heruka, and Peaceful and Wrathful Deities of the Bardo

Tibet, 18th century

The Abbot, the Master, and the Dharma King: Shantarakshita, Padmasambhava, Tri Songdetsen (742-796) and the Nyingma Tradition

Derge Printing House, Derge, Kham Region, Eastern Tibet, ca. 1979

Four-Armed Mahakala

Tibet, 18th century

Painting with large central figure seated on lotus blossom surrounded by temple above and people and elephants below.

Tonpa Shenrab with Episodes from His Life

Amdo Region, Eastern Tibet, 18th - 19th century

Zhabdrung Ngawang Namgyel (1594–1651) with a Brief Lineage

Bhutan, 19th century

Tibet, 18th century

Central Tibet, 15th - 16th century

Tibet, 18th century

Vajradhara with Eighty-Five Great Adepts (Mahasiddhas)

Western Tibet, 15th century

Nepal, 14th century

Tibet, 19th century

Central Tibet, 13th century

White Chakrasamvara, From Situ’s set of Twenty-seven Tutelary Deities

Kham Region, Eastern Tibet, late 18th century

White Manjushri

Tibet, 19th century