Portable shrine with Palden Lhamo

19th century, Tibet, ‘portable shrine containing a wrathful female deity on horseback’, fabric and wood, 17,5 cm, accession nº EA2006.123 at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford (UK).

Palden Lhamo (Shri Devi in sanskrit) is depicted in her one-head and two-arm form, seated sideways on her kiang, using the skin of her dead son as a saddle. Both her and her mount are adorned with skull ornaments. Known as Magzor Gyalmo, this aspect of the deity brandishes a sandalwood staff or club in her right hand while holding a skull cup in the other. She wears a tiger skin loin cloth, a girdle of snakes, and silk garments.

Shrine doors with mahasiddha and tigers

18th-19th century, Tibet, shrine door, polychrome wood, 44,5 cm high, private collection, photo on Christie’s

The Indian adept (possibly Damarupa) wields a drum in his right hand and holds a thigh bone trumpet in the other. His ritual staff is planted in the grass nearby. He wears bone earrings and a meditation strap slung across his right arm. To his right there is a skull cup filled with substances and, in the background, a stag, a doe, and their foal. To his left, behind his white garment, there is a bag supporting a  manuscript with red covers and, behind it, a ritual water pot also painted red. 

18th-19th century, Tibet, shrine door wit tigers, polychrome wood, 44,5 cm high, private collection, photo on Christie’s as before.

A close up on the above link reveals three round jewels near the adults and various symbols in the pond near the cub.

A rare Mahakala shrine

19th century, Tibet, Mahakala portable shrine, polychrome wood, 27 cm, private collection, Art d’Asie lot 45, 4th October 2018, Tajan.

Green Tara is seated atop a lotus inside a dharma wheel that Red Mahakala holds with his hands and his upper fangs.

Portable shrine with buddha

15th century, Tibet, buddha, gilt metal (in a silver shrine?), Sonam Gyaltsen & atelier, item 9490 on HAR, at the Palace Museum in Beijing (China).

The position of the right hand corresponds to various buddhas, especially the historical one, but the left hand would be on their lap, in the gesture of meditation. Instead, this figure makes the gesture of debate/teaching.

Portable shrine with chitipati

Undated, Tibet, personal shrine, painted wood, at the Sackler Gallery of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC (USA).

The doors of this small cabinet are decorated with the father-mother skeletons known as citipati/chitipati or Shri Shmashana Adhipati. On the left, Shri Shma holds a skull-tipped staff in his right hand and a skull cup in the other. Next to him, Shana Adhipat holds a stalk of grain in her right hand and a long-life vase in the other. They stand on one foot placed atop a conch shell for him and a cowrie shell for her, in this case atop a skull cup filled with substances.

Shrine with Milarepa and five sisters

We saw this item before but it was undated and labelled ‘painted clay’ on HAR

19th century, Tibet, ‘shrine with Milarepa and five Tseringma sisters’, painted wood, at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC (USA).

Tseringma refers to Tashi Tseringma, a mountain goddess (she embodies Mount Everest) and mistress of long-life,  who normally has a white body and rides a snow lioness sideways, brandishing a vajra sceptre in her right hand and holding a long-life vase in the other. Her four sisters are Tingi/Ting gyi Shelzangma, who normally has a blue body and rides a female kiang or a mare, holding a banner and a mirror (bottom right corner); Miyo Lozangma has a yellow body and rides a tigress, holding a bowl of delicious food and an arrow (bottom left corner); Tekar/Takar Drozangma normally has a green body and rides a dragon, holding a sheaf of grass and a snake (top right corner); Chöpen Drinzangma normally has a red body and rides a doe, holding a jewel and a jewelled casket (top left corner). Milarepa sits in a cave to meditate.

A Mahakala tsa-tsa shrine

18th century, Tibet, tsa tsa shrine, wood with polychromy, private collection, photo on Arnold Lieberman

A brightly coloured cabinet designed to display small clay plaques (inside) representing buddhas, bodhisattvas, and other figures to be worshipped. The outside of the doors is decorated with the face of Red Mahakala, adorned with a crown and earrings.

Portable shrine with Padmasambhava and deities

Early 16th century, Tibet, portable shrine, wood and pigments, outside, at the Cleveland Museum of Art (USA).

The doors are richly carved with protectors, stupas and mantras.

Early 16th century, Tibet, portable shrine, wood and pigments, inside, at the Cleveland Museum of Art (USA).

At the top of the central panel, Padmasambhava between two wrathful deities (Vajrabhairava to his left, possibly Chakrasamvara on the other side); below them, Vajrakila, between a deity with a drum and a skull cup to his right, and Magzor Gyalmo to his left; on the bottom row, three forms of Mahakala (four-hand, six-hand, two-hand).

Portable shrine with ten deities

Possibly 18th century, Tibet, portable shrine, wood, doors missing, private collection, photo on skinnerinc

The two bodhisattvas on the bottom row are Avalokiteshvara, who holds a lotus in his left hand, and Maitreya, who holds a lotus topped with a water pot in his right hand. Between them, a buddha, probably Shakyamuni, with his left hand in the meditation gesture and the other displaying supreme generosity.

The three buddhas above them, from left to right, are likely to be Ratnasambhava, Akshobhya and Amoghasiddhi.

The buddha at the bottom of this image is Bhaisajyaguru, who holds a medicinal fruit (arura) in his right hand and a medicine jar with a lid in the other. To his left, Amitabha. The identity of the other two buddhas is uncertain.

Tseringma shrine

Undated, Tibet, Tseringma shrine, painted clay, photo on Himalayan Art Resources.

Update 18th July 2021. This item, at the Smithsonian Institution is made of painted wood and dated 19th century.

One of the five mountain deities who embody Mount Everest, Tashi Tseringma Chenga, at the centre, rides a snow lioness and holds a vajra sceptre and a long-life vase. Around her, in the top left corner, Chöpen Dringzangma, who rides a female deer and holds a jewel (not visible here) and a casket; on the other side, Tekar or Takar rides a dragon and holds, in theory, a sheaf of grass and a snake. Below, on the left of the viewer, Miyo Lozangma rides a tiger and holds a bowl of food and a round object instead of the usual arrow; on the other side, Ting Gyi rides a female kiang and normally holds a banner and a mirror. At the top, a yogi in a cave.