Lot Essay
Mandarava is the Indian partner to Padmasambhava, and belongs to a set of three sculptures with Padmasambhava at center, Mandarava sitting to his proper right, and Yeshe Tsogyal, his Tibetan partner, to his left. Padmasambhava was one of three people to introduce Buddhism to Tibet in the eighth century. The inscription on the verso says, "Having given rise to the pristine awareness of bliss-emptiness, Praise to the form of Mandarava."