Vajrapani and Garuda (painting c. 1650; top and bottom borders c. 1350): Art, History and Details

Vajrapani and Garuda (painting c. 1650; top and bottom borders c. 1350) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Choying Dorje, the Tenth Black Hat Karmapa (Tibetan, 1604–1674).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

The painting depicts the Buddhist protector who holds (pani) the thunder bolt (vajra) in his right hand. He kneels in reverence and holds his left hand in a gesture of salute. This unusual image appears to have been the vision of a Tibetan monastic patriarch known for creating his own inventive paintings and sculptures. Sewn to the painting are Chinese damask borders and rare embroideries dating to the Chinese Yuan dynasty (1279–1368). They depict man-eagle figures known as Garuda, a form occasionally assumed by Vajrapani.

Object facts

• Title: Vajrapani and Garuda
• Date: painting c. 1650; top and bottom borders c. 1350
• Creator attribution: Choying Dorje, the Tenth Black Hat Karmapa (Tibetan, 1604–1674)
• Culture: China and Tibet, Embroidery: China, Yuan dynasty (1279–1368); painting: Tibet
• Type: Embroidery
• Technique: Painting: gum tempera, gold, and silver on silk; lateral borders: silk damask with needleloop embroidery; top and bottom panels: embroidered silk, lead, and silver paper; curtain: silk tabby; dowels: wood, rawhide, and leather
• Dimensions: Overall: 114.6 x 44.5 cm (45 1/8 x 17 1/2 in.)
• Collection: Textiles
• Department: Textiles
• Accession number: 1989.11

A detail from the museum

Vajrapani sometimes takes the form of Garuda, enemy of snakes.

Collection credit

Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• "1993 Annual Report." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 81, no. 6 (1994): 143–218.
• Watt, James C. Y., Anne E. Wardwell, and Morris Rossabi. When silk was gold: Central Asian and Chinese textiles. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art in cooperation with the Cleveland Museum of Art, 1997.
• Christie’s, New York. Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, Part I: Including Property from the Arthur M. Sackler Collections. March 24, 2011 sale.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.