清十八世紀 銅鎏金宗喀巴坐像

finely cast seated in dhyanasana on a double-lotus plinth with beaded edges, hands held in dharmachakramudra the gesture of teaching, each holding the long stem of a stylized lotus that rises to the shoulders, crowned with a peaked hat and dressed in elaborately chased robes

Tsongkhapa (1357–1419) is a revered Tibetan religious philosopher, and a central of the Gelugpa sect that ruled Tibet until the middle of the 20th century.  According to tradition, he is an emanation of the Bodhisattva Manjusri. The missing attributes that were once supported by the blossoms at his shoulder were probably the flaming sword that cuts through ignorance and the book of wisdom, which are attributes of Manjusri.