Guru Rinpoche, Antique Brass
NPR 58,000
Guru Rinpoche
Fire-gilt copper with hand-painted face
NPR 425,000
Quantity
TTK-GURURI-GT-10
Padmasambhava seated in royal ease, vajra in the right hand, skull cup in the left, the khatvanga staff resting in the crook of the left arm. Lotus hat with its turned-up brim and feather. The face is painted with the characteristic moustache and wide, direct gaze; turquoise and coral through the hat band and jewellery.
What to expect from this order
Cast by hand in a named workshop
Made by Thamel Metal Studio in the Kathmandu valley, and paid for directly. About the workshop
Dispatched in two working days
Tracked the whole way. Anything over 10 kg travels by freight on a booked slot. Shipping and delivery
Nothing charged now
Pay the courier on delivery, or by wallet or bank transfer once we have confirmed the piece. How paying works
14 days to change your mind
Return it within 14 days of delivery, in the condition it arrived in. Refund policy
The detail
Measurements, materials and how this one was made — the facts a photograph cannot carry.
- Deity
- Guru Rinpoche
- Finish
- Fire-gilt 24k gold
- Posture
- Seated, royal ease
- Inlay
- Turquoise, Coral
- Material
- Gilt copper
- Technique
- Fire-gilding
- Origin district
- Kathmandu
- Artisan
- Thamel studio, Kathmandu
- 10 inch
- 16.8 × 12.2 × 25.4 cm, 4.3 kg
- 14 inch
- 23.5 × 17.1 × 35.6 cm, 11.5 kg
The khatvanga is the awkward part — a long, thin staff with three heads stacked at the top, cast separately and pinned through the arm. Half of what a Guru Rinpoche costs is in getting that staff straight, detailed and permanently seated.
Cast by the lost-wax method the Newar workshops of Patan have used for roughly a thousand years. The artisan models the figure in wax, encases it in a clay and rice-husk mould, fires the mould so the wax runs out, and pours molten metal into the void that is left. The mould is broken to release the casting, so no two pieces from it can ever be identical. Chasing, filing and detailing the face are then done entirely by hand — the slowest part of the work, and the part that decides whether a statue is any good.
The face is hand-painted in gold and mineral pigment and is the most fragile part of the piece. Do not touch or wipe the face at all. Dust the body with a dry, soft cloth, always working away from the face. No water, no polish, no solvent. Keep out of direct sun, which fades the pigment, and away from damp.
In-stock pieces are dispatched within two working days and tracked all the way. Pieces over 10 kg travel by freight on a booked slot rather than by parcel carrier.
You can return it within 14 days of delivery, in the condition it arrived in. If you changed your mind you pay the return postage; if it was faulty or damaged in transit, we do. The refund policy sets out how, and the shipping policy covers costs and timings.
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