Crowns of the Vajra Masters: Ritual Art of Nepal

Ritual Crown with the Five Transcendent Buddhas
Tibet, late 14th–early 15th century
Opaque watercolor and gold on board
Each panel: 7 1/2 × 4 7/16 in. (19 × 11.2 cm)

Gift of Jeffrey Kossak, The Kronos Collections, 1985
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1985.391

Ritual crowns displaying the five Transcendent Buddhas are also a feature of esoteric Buddhism as practiced in Tibet. Each panel depicts one such Buddha: Ratnasambhava (yellow), Amitabha (red), Amoghasiddhi (green), and Akshobhya (blue). With Vairocana (white) at center, these Buddhas preside over the directional Pure Lands. On the reverse of each panel are the Sanskrit seed syllables "Om Ah Hum," a blessing mantra. This crown is one of earliest known examples from Tibet.

Exhibition History
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Art of the Himalayas," December 15, 2010–December 4, 2011.

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Sacred Traditions of the Himalayas," December 20, 2014–June 14, 2015.

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Crowns of the Vajra Masters: Ritual Art of Nepal," December 16, 2017–December 16, 2018.