Tibet, 14th/15th century

Located southeast of Lhasa in central Tibet, Densatil Monastery was founded in 1179 by Pagmodrubpa Dorje Gyalpo, one of the three principal students of Gampopa, the founder of the Pagdru Kagyu School of Tibetan Buddhism. Over the next one hundred and sixty years the monastery erected eight chortens, or commemorative stupas, each with elaborate gilt bronze monuments containing the remains of the abbots and princes of their lineage. The main building's chorten was a massive three storey display of shimmering golden deities created by master artists from Nepal with the help of local craftsmen. Tragically destroyed in the second half of the twentieth century, little remains from the original site except for a small group of salvaged fragments which have been preserved in private collections and museums.
The present work is one of the iconic friezes depicting offering goddesses. Heavily cast with a thick layer of lustrous gilding, the four goddesses stand side by side holding musical instruments and accoutrement. Additional examples of offering goddess panels are in the Musée National des Arts Asiatiques Guimet, Paris (MA6262 and MA6263) and in the Collection of David T. Owsley (O. Czaja and A. Proser, Golden Visions of Densatil: A Tibetan Buddhist Monastery, New York, 2014, pp.116-119, cat.nos.21, 22, 23). A Densatil gilt bronze figure of Paranashavari, the forest goddess, sold at Christie's New York on 15 March, 2016, lot 256 for $389,000.