# @rubinmuseum on Instagram

- **Type:** Image
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/DQ4fxOriQfl
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/36793421-rubinmuseum-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/postThumbnails/3b645008fe.jpg
- **Posted:** 2025-11-10T16:32:04.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** Rubin Museum of Himalayan Art (@rubinmuseum) — https://gondola.cc/rubinmuseum

## Caption

Are you familiar with Vajrabhairava? 

Vajrabhairava is one of the most important deities of the Geluk School of Tibetan Buddhism, which has dominated Mongolian religious life in recent centuries. 

This sculpture is assembled from pieces of copper that have been shaped by hammering them from behind, a technique known as repoussé. The joints where the various pieces have been connected are hidden by the figure’s decorative elements such as armlets and bracelets, while the hands and feet were cast separately using the lost wax technique. The artists of Dolonnor, in Inner Mongolia, were masters of repoussé, and in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries they produced many Tibetan Buddhist images for China’s Manchu imperial court and monasteries across the Tibetan Buddhist world. 

This sculpture’s separately attached ornaments made of thin strips of hammered copper, such as the elephant skin draped over Vajrabhairava’s shoulder, are characteristic of the Dolonnor style.

P.S. - If you're in New York, you can see this sculpture at the brooklynmuseum! It's currently on view in the Rubin Museum Tibetan Buddhist Shrine Room. 
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Vajrabhairava; 19th century; Inner Mongolia; metal with applied ornaments and pigments; Rubin Museum of Himalayan Art; C2005.27.3 (HAR 65552)

#RubinMuseum #HimalayanArt #Vajrabhairava #Buddhism

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## Tags

buddhism, vajrabhairava, rubinmuseum, himalayanart

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