Vajrabhairava with His Consort Vajravetali

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Buddhist ideology from Tibet became especially important to the Zanabazar tradition in Mongolia. There, Buddhism reached the nomadic population via tent/temple complexes moving across the plains. This unusual image is fabricated from a silt substrate bonded using tongue oil over a wire armature; it was then gilded and painted in an effort to simulate metal. No comparable example is known, making it an especially rare object, speaking to an otherwise-lost image-making tradition.

Asian Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Met's collection of Asian art—more than 35,000 objects, ranging in date from the third millennium B.C. to the twenty-first century—is one of the largest and most comprehensive in the world. Each of the many civilizations of Asia is represented by outstanding works, providing an unrivaled experience of the artistic traditions of nearly half the world.

Metropolitan Museum of Art