Detail: Traditionally in Tibetan art, thangkas, sculptures of the Buddha and other deities were used to facilitate spiritual attainment. The Museum’s collection contains many sculptures of historic lamas and reincarnated lamas or “Tulkus.” Sculptures of Lama Jangkya Hutuku Rolpay Dorje (1717-1786), the Third (Sixth) Panchen Lama Lobzang Palden Yeshe, (1738-1781), and Tsong Khapa (1357-1419) will be included; so will portraits of the Dalai Lama and artifacts from his visit to the Museum in 1991 and a portrait of the 9th Panchen Lama (1883-1937) by Alfred Learned along with his fire ceremony implements. Historic photographs of Tibetan lamas and monasteries from a 1933 expedition into Tibet by British explorers John Hanbury Tracy and Ronald Kaulbeck, and a 1940s OSS expedition into Tibet by Ilya Tolstoy and Brooke Dolan will be on view.
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