The Artistic Specificity of Buryat Lama Portrait Sculpture, 19th–21st Centuries
Keywords:
Buddhist sculpture, Vajrayana, sacred portrait, Highly Venerable Lama, Buddhist teacher, Buryat mastersAbstract
This article examines the artistic characteristics of sculptural portraiture in the Buddhist art of Buryatia during the second half of the 19th and 20th centuries. Although portrait painting held significant importance in the Vajrayana tradition, depicting revered religious leaders according to established iconographic conventions, the artistic specificity of Buryat sacred portraiture remains under-researched. Like their Tibetan counterparts, memorial portraits of highly venerated lamas in Buryatia functioned as substitutes for the physical presence of deceased teachers and served as focal points for devotional practice.
This research aims to identify the distinctive artistic features of sculptural portraiture in Buryat Buddhist art through the analysis of images depicting revered local teachers. Drawing on portraits of Buryat lamas from the collections of the National Museum of the Republic of Buryatia and the State Museum of the History of Religion, this study identifies characteristics of traditional iconographic conventions and traces the development of a tradition that combined idealized representation with individualized features. By the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Buryat artists increasingly emphasized the personal characteristics of spiritual figures in their work.
The study reveals the existence of distinct artistic workshops associated with monasteries in the Agin region, particularly at Tsugol Monastery. The analysis demonstrates that following the disruption of this tradition during the Soviet era, contemporary Buryat Buddhist communities have adopted a more flexible approach to commissioning artwork, engaging artists with varying levels of formal training and artistic background.
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