Large temple drum with original stand and drumsticks

Object Details

• Provenance

  Late 19th century-?

  Possibly Kumbum Monastery, Amdo, Eastern Tibet [1]

  ?-by 1940s

  Ownership information unknown

  By 1940s-?

  Irania Korvin, method of acquisition unknown [2]

  ?-1980s

  Daughter of Irania Korvin, probably by gift or by descent [3]

  1980s-at least 1994

  Philip J. Rudko, purchased from the daughter of Irania Korvin [4]

  At least 1994-2011

  Alice S. Kandell, purchased from Philip J. Rudko [5]

  From 2011

  Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, gift of Alice S. Kandell [6]

  Notes:

  [1] Marylin M. Rhie and Robert A.F. Thurman, “A Shrine for Tibet: The Alice S. Kandell Collection,” (New York and London: Tibet House US, in association with Overlook Duckworth and Peter Mayer Publishers, 2009), cat. VI-17, pp. 250-251. Object is described as, “[p]ossibly originally from the Amdo region of ca. late 19th century.” Amdo is one of the three historical Tibetan regions.

  [2] See acquisition justification for S2011.11 titled, “Shakyamuni Buddha in a Full Shrine, Offered as a gift from Alice S. Kandell to the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery of Art,” 2011, copy in object file for S2011.11. The acquisition justification for S2011.11 states, “The Maitreya [now S2011.11] was brought to the United States from Shanghai in the late 1940s by a Russian opera singer, Irania Korvin. Korvin had the sculpture in Shanghai during the 1940s, where she was stranded during the second world war. In the early 1970s, when Korvin was living in Queens, New York, she met Phil Rudko. Korvin’s daughter eventually sold the Maitreya (and a standing drum [this object, now S2017.47a-k]) to Phil Rudko in the 1980s.”

  [3] See note 2.

  [4] See note 1, p. xi. Alice S. Kandell met Philip J. Rudko in 1994. Eventually, Kandell acquired Rudko’s collection and merged it with her own.

  See also note 2.

  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 Kandell as the curator of her personal collection.

  [5] See note 2.

  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).

  [6] See the original Deed of Gift, dated March 18, 2011, copy in object file for S2011.10.

  Research Updated January 17, 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)

• Previous custodian or owner

  Possibly Kumbum Monastery (established 1583)

  Irania Korvin (b. possibly 1881-1890)

  Philip J. Rudko

  Alice S. Kandell

• Origin

  Amdo Kumbum monastery?, Eastern Tibet

• Credit Line

  The Alice S. Kandell Collection

• Type

  Musical Instrument

• On View

  Sackler Gallery 26a: The Tibetan Buddhist Shrine Room

• Restrictions and Rights

  Usage Conditions Apply

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Keep Exploring

• Related Resources

  collections.si.edu

• Date

  1890s, 1870s

• Name

  Kumbum Monastery, Kandell, Alice S., Rudko, Philip J., Korvin, Irania

• Place

  Amdo Kumbum monastery?, Tibet

• Topic

  South Asian and Himalayan Art, Art, Wood, Alice S. Kandell Collection

• Culture

  Buddhists, Himalayan peoples, South Asians

• Object Type

  Musical instruments

• On View

  Yes