Five-Panel Ritual Crown

Unknown artist

Ritual crowns displaying the five Transcendent Buddhas (Tathagatas) were a feature of the Esoteric Vajrayana Buddhism practiced in Tibet. At the center of each of the five leaves is one of the Transcendent Buddhas, who together form one of the most important groups of Esoteric Buddhist deities. The principal deities are (from left to right): Ratnasambhava (yellow), Amitabha (red), Vairocana (white), Amoghasiddhi (green), and Akshobhya (blue). The ornamentation behind the figures as well as their crowns show Nepalese influence, probably the legacy of Newari artists working in Tibet. This crown is one of the earliest known examples of its kind.