Tibetan Mystic Master with Skullcap in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, September 2010

Ascetic Master, probably a Mahasiddha

Date: 17th century

Culture: Tibet

Medium: Brass with pigment

Dimensions: H. 4 3/4 in. (12.1 cm); W. 3 in. (7.6 cm); D. 2 1/4 in. (5.7 cm)

Classification: Sculpture

Credit Line: Purchase, Florence and Herbert Irving Gift and funds from various donors, 2004

Accession Number: 2004.81

Description:

A dramatically poised Indian yogi kneels on a flayed buffalo skin and holds a skull cup (kapala) above his head. He is likely a mahasiddha, perhaps Kapalapa, “The Skull-cup Bearer,” one of the famed Indian eccentric yogis and practitioners of Tantrism so revered in the Tibetan Vajrayana tradition.


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