Lamp Bearer, Presumed Portrait of a Nobleman

Lamp Bearer, Presumed Portrait of a Nobleman

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This figure’s Rajput-style dress was popular in court circles in seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Nepal. The sculpture carries a donor inscription that identifies him as Sri Muni Vajracharya, a member of the Varyacharya caste. He holds an oil lamp with a dragon handle and an elegant ewer in his extended hands as offerings to the presiding deity, here named as Padmapani Lokesvara, the lotus-bearing bodhisattva of compassion.

Asian Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Lamp Bearer, Presumed Portrait of a NoblemanLamp Bearer, Presumed Portrait of a NoblemanLamp Bearer, Presumed Portrait of a NoblemanLamp Bearer, Presumed Portrait of a NoblemanLamp Bearer, Presumed Portrait of a Nobleman

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.