Machig Labdron as Vajradakini

Object Details

• Label

  This sculpture represents a historical Tibetan woman, Machig Labdron (circa 1055–1149), as the fierce Buddhist goddess Vajradakini. Machig perfected an important ritual in which meditators sever their attachment to ego by symbolically dismembering their bodies as food for demons and deities. Practitioners begin the severance (chöd) ritual by chanting and dancing to the beat of a double-headed drum, just as Machig does here. Chöd is one of many Tibetan Buddhist traditions to use symbols of the horrific, such as Machig’s fangs and skull ornaments, as a means for overcoming the illusions that hinder the quest for enlightenment.

  Damaged in a fire and only partially restored, Machig’s face was originally painted in gold and her body gilded.

• Provenance

  ?-1980s

  Sangye Tenzing, method of acquisition unknown [1]

  1980s-?

  Philip J. Rudko, purchased from Sangye Tenzing probably in New York, NY [2]

  ?-2012

  Alice S. Kandell, acquired from Philip J. Rudko [3]

  From 2012

  Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, gift of Alice S. Kandell [4]

  Notes:

  [1] See acquisition justification, undated (ca. August 2012), copy in object file. Prior to acquisition, the Curator for South and Southeast Asian Art, National Museum of Asian Art, conducted several interviews with Philip Rudko in 2009 and 2010. During these interviews, Rudko told the Curator that he had purchased this object from Sangye Tenzing. Tenzing, ran a boarding house for Chinese tourists in Labrang Province (Amdo), and periodically traveled to New York, NY probably to visit his child, who was or is in the Marines.

  The acquisition justification also notes that “it is not known whether Tenzing served as a middleman between US collectors and Tibetan families with objects or whether he brought over objects himself. Works from Sange [sic, Sangye] Tenzing are in every major US collection of Tibetan art.”

  See also “Collection F -- Sange [sic, Sangye] Tenzing, Labrang, Amdo” in “Alice Kandell Exhibition (March 2010) Provenance Draft Notes July 19, 2009,” copy in the 2011 “Alice Kandell Collection Provenance” file. In these provenance notes from 2009, it says that Rudko met Sangye Tenzing in New York, NY in the 1980s.

  Physical evidence indicating that the work was burned in a fire -- presumably in the destruction of a monastery in Tibet during the cultural revolution in the 1960s – may support Philip Rudko’s narrative that Sangye Tenzing brought the sculpture to the US in or after the 1980s. See acquisition justification, undated (ca. August 2012), copy in object file.

  [2] See note 1.

  Philip J. Rudko, born just outside New York City in northern New Jersey, is a Russian Orthodox priest and art conservator, specializing in Tibetan objects. He works with the collector Alice S. Kandell as the curator of her personal collection.

  [3] See note 1.

  Alice S. Kandell is a private collector, who for decades acquired hundreds of bronze sculptures, thangkas, textile banners, painted furniture and ritual implements. Her interest in Tibetan art and culture began during her college years, when she took the first of many trips to Sikkim, Tibet and Ladakh. Throughout her career as a child psychologist in New York, she continued to pursue her love of Tibetan Buddhist sacred art, traveling, collecting and documenting the art and culture of the region in two books of photography, “Sikkim: The Hidden Kingdom” (Doubleday) and “Mountaintop Kingdom: Sikkim” (Norton).

  [4] See Arthur M. Sackler Gallery “Acquisition Consideration Form,” approved on September 20, 2012, copy in object file. See also Arthur M. Sackler Gallery “Deed of Gift,” dated December 11, 2012, copy in object file.

  Research updated April 26, 2024

• Collection

  Arthur M. Sackler Collection

• Exhibition History

  The Tibetan Buddhist Shrine Room (March 12, 2022 - ongoing)

  Encountering the Buddha: Art and Practice Across Asia (October 14, 2017 to February 6, 2022)

  The Tibetan Shrine from the Alice S. Kandell Collection (March 13, 2010 to November 27, 2016)

  Sculpture of South Asia and the Himalayas (May 4, 1988 to July 9, 2017)

• Previous custodian or owner

  Sangye Tenzing

  Philip J. Rudko

  Alice S. Kandell

• Origin

  Central or Eastern Tibet

• Credit Line

  The Alice S. Kandell Collection

• Type

  Sculpture

• On View

  Sackler Gallery 26a: The Tibetan Buddhist Shrine Room

• Restrictions and Rights

  Usage Conditions Apply

  There are restrictions for re-using this media. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Terms of Use page.

  The information presented on this website may be revised and updated at any time as ongoing research progresses or as otherwise warranted. Pending any such revisions and updates, information on this site may be incomplete or inaccurate or may contain typographical errors. Neither the Smithsonian nor its regents, officers, employees, or agents make any representations about the accuracy, reliability, completeness, or timeliness of the information on the site. Use this site and the information provided on it subject to your own judgment. The National Museum of Asian Art welcomes information that would augment or clarify the ownership history of objects in their collections.

Keep Exploring

• Related Resources

  collections.si.edu

• Date

  1700s, 1750s

• Name

  Kandell, Alice S., Rudko, Philip J., Tenzing, Sangye

• Place

  Tibet

• Topic

  Gilding, South Asian and Himalayan Art, Art, Inlay (process), Sculpture, Dakini, Alice S. Kandell Collection, Metal-work

• Culture

  Buddhists, Himalayan peoples, South Asians

• Object Type

  Sculpture

• On View

  Yes