The Newar Craftsmen of Kathmandu Valley: Objects of Devotion from Nepal

Ritual Oil Lamp with Donor Figure
Bhakta Pradipa
Brass
Original image in the Patan Museum
6 5/8”

At the conclusion of the renovation of the Patan Museum and preparing for the opening by the late King Birendra Bir Bikram Shah, there was a last scramble to complete the details of the work. At the main entrance to the galleries at the top of the first stairway, was installed a beautiful terracotta torana, found in the garden during renovation and thought to be from a destroyed temple in the 1934 earthquake. A Ganesh image was intended to be commissioned for the niche but was never made and it could not be left empty for the Kings opening, it would be inauspicious!

James Giambrone had seen the original inscribed and dated image, 1870 in an old brass shop in Bhaktapur a year prior and hoped it was still available. Lo and behold it was and he made a mold (thasa in Newari) of the original image, this image is made from that mould.