Gelugpa Lineage

? to 1970s
Albert Rudolph (1928-1973), Rudi Oriental Arts, New York, NY method of acquisition unknown [1]

1970s to Mid-1980s
Philip Rudko, purchased from Rudi Oriental Arts, New York, NY through Albert Rudolph [2]

From Mid-1980s to 2020
Alice Kandell, purchased from Philip Rudko in the mid-1980s in New York, NY [3]

From 2020
Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, gift of Alice Kandell, New York, NY [4]

Notes:

[1] According to Philip Rudko, interviewed by Joanna M. Gohmann on November 6, 2020, notes in accession file. Albert Rudolph, known also as Swami Rudrananda (Rudi) was born in Brooklyn, New York. He was a disciple of Bhagawan Nityananda (1897-1961), whom he met in India in 1958 or 1960. In 1966 another disciple of Nityananda, Swami Muktananda (1908-1982) initiated him into the Saraswati Order of monks, making him one of the first Americans to be recognized as a Swami or master in this tradition. Rudi began collecting Asian art objects before he turned twenty. Rudi opened his business, Rudi Oriental Arts, at 184 7th Avenue South, with just a few hundred dollars and some of the sculptures he had collected in the late 1950s.

[2] See interview referenced in note 1. Philip Rudko, born just outside New York City in northern New Jersey, is a Russian Orthodox priest and art conservator, specializing in Tibetan objects. He works with the collector Alice Kandell as the curator of her personal collection.

[3] See interview referenced in note 1. Alice Kandell is a private collector, who for decades acquired hundreds of bronze sculptures, thangkas, textile banners, painted furniture and ritual implements. Her interest in Tibetan art and culture began during her college years, when she took the first of many trips to Sikkim, Tibet and Ladakh. Throughout her career as a child psychologist in New York, she continued to pursue her love of Tibetan Buddhist sacred art, traveling, collecting and documenting the art and culture of the region in two books of photography, Sikkim: The Hidden Kingdom (Doubleday) and Mountaintop Kingdom: Sikkim (Norton).

[4] The object was formally accessioned into the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Collection on December 18, 2020. See Acquisition Consideration Form, object file.