Vajrapani Embroidered Mount with Garuda (painting 1600s, embroidery c. 1300): Art, History and Details

Vajrapani Embroidered Mount with Garuda (painting 1600s, embroidery c. 1300) 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 Embroidered Mount with Garuda
• Date: painting 1600s, embroidery c. 1300
• Creator attribution: Choying Dorje, the Tenth Black Hat Karmapa (Tibetan, 1604–1674)
• Culture: China and Tibet, Embroidery: China, Yuan dynasty (1279-1368); painting: Tibet, 17th century
• Type: Embroidery
• Technique: Opaque watercolor, gold, and silver on silk
• Dimensions: Overall: 44.5 x 2.5 cm (17 1/2 x 1 in.)
• Collection: Textiles
• Department: Textiles
• Accession number: 1989.11.d

A detail from the museum

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

Collection credit

Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund

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.