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Lot Essay
The inscription on this sumptuous sculpture provides compelling evidence for identifying the sitter as Dechen Chokyi Gyelpo Pelzangpo (bde chen chos kyi rgyal po dpal bzang po) and situates the sculpture within a much larger lineage set. The inscription reads: "Left 11th, the Glorious Dharma King of Dechen," combining a positional designation with an epithet associated with the Fourth Dalai Lama, Yontan Gyatso (1589–1617).
The identification is strengthened by textual evidence preserved in recensions of the Fifth Dalai Lama's rebirth lineage. As discussed by Nancy Lin in Hirshberg et al., Revue d'Études Tibétaines, no. 38 (February 2017), "Recounting the Fifth Dalai Lama's Rebirth Lineage," the Fourth Dalai Lama appears in abbreviated form as Dechen Chogyal (bde chen chos rgyal), a shortened version of Bde chen chos kyi rgyal po, while the appendix records the fuller name Bde chen chos kyi rgyal po dpal bzang po. In other words, the name inscribed on the present sculpture corresponds directly to the Fourth Dalai Lama within the lineage traditions promoted by the Fifth Dalai Lama. Lin's Table 1 explicitly identifies "DL4 Dechen Chogyal" as the final predecessor of the Fifth Dalai Lama in one of the shorter lineage recensions. While several versions of the rebirth lineage circulated, ranging from relatively concise sequences to highly elaborated genealogies developed later in the Fifth Dalai Lama's lifetime, the inscription allows the figure to be identified securely as the Fourth Dalai Lama, even if the precise textual recension represented by the sculptural group remains to be determined.
The opening phrase, g.yon bcu gcig pa, meaning "the eleventh on the left," is equally revealing. Rather than an independent portrait, the sculpture clearly formed part of a carefully ordered lineage ensemble. The designation indicates a set of at least twenty-three figures and potentially many more, far exceeding the standard thirteen-member Dalai Lama lineage compositions known in painting. Such an extensive sculptural series, especially executed in gilt bronze on this scale, would have represented a commission of exceptional importance and considerable expense. The attribution is further supported by stylistic comparison with a portrait of the Second Dalai Lama in the Garuda Art Studio Collection, published in The Khubilghan: The Incarnated Lamas of the Qing Dynasty and Related Artifacts (National Palace Museum, Taipei, 2020, pp. 78–79, no. 1-3-09). Both sculptures share virtually identical base construction, facial modelling, robe treatment, the rendering of the flower rising beside the shoulder, and the format of the inscription (10th from left), suggesting they are likely from the same set.
The historical significance of the identification is substantial. Born into the Mongolian royal lineage as the great-grandson of Altan Khan, Yontan Gyatso remains the only non-Tibetan Dalai Lama. Following the death of Sonam Gyatso, the Third Dalai Lama, the Gelug school sought to preserve its crucial alliance with the Tumed Mongols by recognizing Altan Khan's descendant as the next incarnation. Raised in Mongolia and trained extensively in Buddhist scholarship and tantra, Yontan Gyatso travelled to Tibet in 1602, where he studied under the Fourth Panchen Lama, Lobzang Chokyi Gyeltsen. He received full monastic ordination in 1614 but died only three years later at the age of twenty-eight.
Although conventionally known as the Fourth Dalai Lama, Yontan Gyatso was in fact the first Dalai Lama selected through the mature reincarnation process associated with the institution. The title "Dalai Lama" had originally been conferred upon Sonam Gyatso, after which his two predecessors, Gendun Druba and Gendun Gyatso, were retrospectively recognized as the First and Second Dalai Lamas. It was the Fifth Dalai Lama, Ngawang Lobzang Gyatso, who subsequently formalized the lineage, extending it through a series of earlier incarnations linked to the eleventh-century Kadampa master Dromton Gyalwai Jungne. By connecting the Dalai Lamas to this prestigious spiritual ancestry, the Fifth Dalai Lama reinforced both the religious authority of the office and the political legitimacy of Gelug rule in Tibet. Representations of the successive incarnations became increasingly popular thereafter in both painting and sculpture, serving as visual affirmations of the lineage's sacred continuity.
Technical and stylistic features also point to production by Newari artists working at Tashi Lhunpo Monastery during the seventeenth or eighteenth century. Particularly characteristic is the double-circle motif enclosing a visvavajra on the base plate, with floral elements projecting inward from the circumference. This distinctive feature appears on numerous sculptures attributed to Tashi Lhunpo workshops, including the Ushnishavijaya from the Speelman Collection sold at Bonhams Paris, 11 June 2024, lot 8, and examples published in Luo Wenhua's Vastness and Longevity: When Tashilhunpo Temple Meets the Forbidden City (2020, p. 378, no. 139). Additionally, the treatment of the lotus petals, defined by a finely incised central line, closely parallels that seen on the standing Avalokiteshvara from the Speelman Collection being offered at Christie's Hong Kong, 30 October 2026, lot 2104. Additional correspondences in the modelling of the crown and armbands, found across numerous related figures, further support an attribution to the Tashi Lhunpo artistic tradition.
The inscriptional evidence, lineage texts, stylistic comparisons, and technical details provide a strong basis for identifying the figure as the Fourth Dalai Lama, Yontan Gyatso. Moreover, the positional designation "Left 11th" reveals that the sculpture once belonged to an exceptionally ambitious lineage ensemble, almost certainly commissioned for an important monastic setting and conceived to celebrate the expanded incarnation lineage that emerged under the authority of the Fifth Dalai Lama.
The identification is strengthened by textual evidence preserved in recensions of the Fifth Dalai Lama's rebirth lineage. As discussed by Nancy Lin in Hirshberg et al., Revue d'Études Tibétaines, no. 38 (February 2017), "Recounting the Fifth Dalai Lama's Rebirth Lineage," the Fourth Dalai Lama appears in abbreviated form as Dechen Chogyal (bde chen chos rgyal), a shortened version of Bde chen chos kyi rgyal po, while the appendix records the fuller name Bde chen chos kyi rgyal po dpal bzang po. In other words, the name inscribed on the present sculpture corresponds directly to the Fourth Dalai Lama within the lineage traditions promoted by the Fifth Dalai Lama. Lin's Table 1 explicitly identifies "DL4 Dechen Chogyal" as the final predecessor of the Fifth Dalai Lama in one of the shorter lineage recensions. While several versions of the rebirth lineage circulated, ranging from relatively concise sequences to highly elaborated genealogies developed later in the Fifth Dalai Lama's lifetime, the inscription allows the figure to be identified securely as the Fourth Dalai Lama, even if the precise textual recension represented by the sculptural group remains to be determined.
The opening phrase, g.yon bcu gcig pa, meaning "the eleventh on the left," is equally revealing. Rather than an independent portrait, the sculpture clearly formed part of a carefully ordered lineage ensemble. The designation indicates a set of at least twenty-three figures and potentially many more, far exceeding the standard thirteen-member Dalai Lama lineage compositions known in painting. Such an extensive sculptural series, especially executed in gilt bronze on this scale, would have represented a commission of exceptional importance and considerable expense. The attribution is further supported by stylistic comparison with a portrait of the Second Dalai Lama in the Garuda Art Studio Collection, published in The Khubilghan: The Incarnated Lamas of the Qing Dynasty and Related Artifacts (National Palace Museum, Taipei, 2020, pp. 78–79, no. 1-3-09). Both sculptures share virtually identical base construction, facial modelling, robe treatment, the rendering of the flower rising beside the shoulder, and the format of the inscription (10th from left), suggesting they are likely from the same set.
The historical significance of the identification is substantial. Born into the Mongolian royal lineage as the great-grandson of Altan Khan, Yontan Gyatso remains the only non-Tibetan Dalai Lama. Following the death of Sonam Gyatso, the Third Dalai Lama, the Gelug school sought to preserve its crucial alliance with the Tumed Mongols by recognizing Altan Khan's descendant as the next incarnation. Raised in Mongolia and trained extensively in Buddhist scholarship and tantra, Yontan Gyatso travelled to Tibet in 1602, where he studied under the Fourth Panchen Lama, Lobzang Chokyi Gyeltsen. He received full monastic ordination in 1614 but died only three years later at the age of twenty-eight.
Although conventionally known as the Fourth Dalai Lama, Yontan Gyatso was in fact the first Dalai Lama selected through the mature reincarnation process associated with the institution. The title "Dalai Lama" had originally been conferred upon Sonam Gyatso, after which his two predecessors, Gendun Druba and Gendun Gyatso, were retrospectively recognized as the First and Second Dalai Lamas. It was the Fifth Dalai Lama, Ngawang Lobzang Gyatso, who subsequently formalized the lineage, extending it through a series of earlier incarnations linked to the eleventh-century Kadampa master Dromton Gyalwai Jungne. By connecting the Dalai Lamas to this prestigious spiritual ancestry, the Fifth Dalai Lama reinforced both the religious authority of the office and the political legitimacy of Gelug rule in Tibet. Representations of the successive incarnations became increasingly popular thereafter in both painting and sculpture, serving as visual affirmations of the lineage's sacred continuity.
Technical and stylistic features also point to production by Newari artists working at Tashi Lhunpo Monastery during the seventeenth or eighteenth century. Particularly characteristic is the double-circle motif enclosing a visvavajra on the base plate, with floral elements projecting inward from the circumference. This distinctive feature appears on numerous sculptures attributed to Tashi Lhunpo workshops, including the Ushnishavijaya from the Speelman Collection sold at Bonhams Paris, 11 June 2024, lot 8, and examples published in Luo Wenhua's Vastness and Longevity: When Tashilhunpo Temple Meets the Forbidden City (2020, p. 378, no. 139). Additionally, the treatment of the lotus petals, defined by a finely incised central line, closely parallels that seen on the standing Avalokiteshvara from the Speelman Collection being offered at Christie's Hong Kong, 30 October 2026, lot 2104. Additional correspondences in the modelling of the crown and armbands, found across numerous related figures, further support an attribution to the Tashi Lhunpo artistic tradition.
The inscriptional evidence, lineage texts, stylistic comparisons, and technical details provide a strong basis for identifying the figure as the Fourth Dalai Lama, Yontan Gyatso. Moreover, the positional designation "Left 11th" reveals that the sculpture once belonged to an exceptionally ambitious lineage ensemble, almost certainly commissioned for an important monastic setting and conceived to celebrate the expanded incarnation lineage that emerged under the authority of the Fifth Dalai Lama.