Portrait of Milarepa, a Monk and Poet

In Tibetan Buddhism, monks and lamas are sometimes

commemorated by sculptures of earlier important founders and

teachers. While the inscription names “Tenpa Lhundrup,” this

image is of Milarepa (1051–1135 C.E.). Milarepa was a Tibetan

religious teacher, master of yogic practices, and one of the

founders of the Kagyu lineage of Tibetan Buddhism. The objects

invested in this sculpture include a locket of hair, perhaps even

that of Tenpa Lhundrup, suggesting suggesting this statue may

have functioned as a reliquary, a place to store sacred mementos.