QIANLONG INCISED SEVEN-CHARACTER MARK AND OF THE PERIOD (1736-1795)

Palden Lhamo, or Sri Devi in Sanskrit, is the Tibetan Protectress who is normally portrayed riding a horse and is the most important guardian deity of Tibetan Buddhism. The fierce nature of this character, intensified by the fiery red hair, represents one of the many wrathful deities who are reputed to keep evil at bay. A closely related larger example in the Palace Museum Collection, Beijing, also inscribed, was included in the exhibition Cultural Relics of Tibetan Buddhism Collected in the Qing Palace, Hong Kong, 1992, and is illustrated in the catalogue p. 107, col. pl. 78.