Series 2

Alain Mallet’s Dalai Lama Engraving

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Earliest European depiction of the Dalai Lama? In 1683 Alain Mallet published his illustrated five-volume set entitled Description de l’univers. The second volume, devoted to Asia, contained an illustration of the Grand Lama, a “living and true God.”

Mallet copied an earlier illustration of Althanius Kircher from 1667 with minimal changes. The engraving shown here was hand colored (possibly after publication), giving the Dalai Lama a dark red robe.

While not named in the text, the original illustration was published during the lifetime of the famed Fifth Dalai Lama, Ngawang Lobsang Gyatso. Information about the Dalai Lama was gleaned from the reports of Jesuit missionary Johann Grueber who visited Lhasa in 1661.

The Fifth Dalai Lama died in 1682, a year before Mallet’s publication, but his passing was concealed for more than a decade. Mallet reports on the process of reincarnation, describing it as a “deception.”

To read Mallet’s text associated with this image, see the digitized scan provided by the University of Ottawa here: https://tinyurl.com/37895xc9

The Buddhas in the West Material Archive is a digital scholarship project that catalogues artifacts depicting Buddhist material culture for Western audiences. It’s comprised of prints, photos, and an assortment of ephemera and other objects. For a brief introduction to this archive, visit the main Buddhas in the West project page.

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Pacific Curio Shop Niō Statue Postcard

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A pair of muscular, wrathful Niō, “Benevolent Kings,” often stand guard at the entrance to Japanese Buddhist temples. In the late 1950s, however, this Niō was stationed outside John Saxby’s Pacific Curio Shop on Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco.

Saxby was a WWI veteran and a Merchant Marine who became a well-respected amateur conchologist. In addition to offering a world-class shell exhibit, Saxby imported Japanese curios, a thriving market post-WWII.

Strands of shells and postcards can also be seen for sale.

The shop’s “Temple Guardian” was apparently important enough to warrant its own postcard. The “Kodak Paper” stamp box dates this card to after 1950.

The icon’s closed mouth identifies this guardian as Ungyō; I am unsure of where this statue originated. A photo of Saxby inspecting another imported icon can be found at the San Francisco Public Library: https://digitalsf.org/islandora/object/islandora:137138

The Buddhas in the West Material Archive is a digital scholarship project that catalogues artifacts depicting Buddhist material culture for Western audiences. It’s comprised of prints, photos, and an assortment of ephemera and other objects. For a brief introduction to this archive, visit the main Buddhas in the West project page.

For Related Buddhas in the West Posts Featuring San Francisco:

For the Most Recent Buddhas in the West Posts: