A gilt-copper alloy figure of Jigten Sumgon Rinchen Pel, Tibet, 13th century

Collection of Guenter Heil (1938-2014).

This finely cast figure is clearly identifiable as Jigten Sumgon Rinchen Pel, the founder of the Drikung Kagyu lineage, by the precision of the open, naturalistically cast facial features and prominent ears. See a large figure of Rinchen Pel, illustrated in Donald Dinwiddie (ed.), Portraits of the Masters, London, 2003, pl. 46, and sold at Bonhams New York, 14th March 2017, lot 3236. See also a portrait of Rinchen Pel in the Musée Guimet, illustrated in Czaja and Proser, Golden Vision of Densatil, New York, 2014, pp 68-9, pl.1, and another in the Potala Palace, illustrated in David Jackson, Painting Traditions of the Drigung Kagyu School, New York, 2015, p. 89, fig. 5.12.