A LARGE INSCRIBED POLYCHROME ZITAN FIGURE OF MILAREPA TIBET, 16TH – 17TH CENTURY

overall 40.5 cm, 16 in.

Provenance:
This large and boldly carved sculpture depicts the Tibetan saint and poet Milarepa (1052-1135). The style closely relates to a figure of Atisha in the Rubin Museum of Art, New York, C203.12.6, which shares the same intricate design on the robes. The inscription reads:

“The factors conducive to enlightenment

Rise above the darkness [of ignorance] like the sun”,

Thus said Joy-to-Hear (Milarepa)

I pay homage to thee Noble One.

May this be virtuous!".

༄༅༅།།བྱང་ཕྱོགས་མུན་པའི་སྨགས་རུམ་ནས།།

གང་ལ་ཉི་མ་འཆར་བ་བཞིན།།

ཐོས་པ་དགའ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་དེ།། བསྐྱེས་ཁྱེད་

ལ་ཕྱག་འཚལ་ལོ།། དགེ་འོ།།