A GILT BRONZE FIGURE OF THE THIRD CHANGKYA HUTUKTU, ROLPAI DORJE (1717-1786)Tibetan-Chinese, Qianlong period, c. 1750-1770. Heavily cast and finely gilt, seated in dhyanasana atop a double-cushion base with neatly incised foliate designs, the blanket with lotus roundels to the sides, his legs shrouded by his voluminous monastic robes with incised foliate hems. He is wearing a broad miter headdress and holding a vajra in his raised right hand, while his left is held in karana mudra and resting on his lap. His serene face with finely painted details such as heavy-lidded eyes, arched brows, and full lips, and further with subtle bumps to the forehead and right cheek.Provenance: From the collection of Inger Lissanevitch, and thence by descent. Inger Lissanevitch (née Pheiffer, 1928-2013) was the wife of Boris Lissanevitch, a Russian ballet dancer, hotelier, and restaurateur who opened Nepal’s first hotel, The Royal Hotel, in 1951. The Danish Inger met Boris at his 300 Club in Kolkata in the late 1940s. They were married in Copenhagen in December 1948 and returned immediately to India. In 1951, they relocated to Kathmandu following the downfall of the Rana regime and the return from exile of their friend, King Tribhuvan (1906-1955). Boris opened The Royal Hotel in what is now the Electionmission offices in central Kathmandu. He persuaded Tribhuvan to issue the first tourist visas to Nepal and played host to a range of famous mountaineers and dignitaries and even orchestrated the state visit of Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip to Nepal in 1961. Inger played an important role in the day-to-day running of the family and hotel: that of Boris’ long-suffering accountant. “He was a terrible businessman,” she once remarked in an interview, “he didn’t think about money at all, so that was left to me.” Her affection for her husband was impossible to dispute, however, and was rivaled only by that which she felt for her beloved Kathmandu. After Boris’ passing in 1985, Inger continued to live in Nepal for the rest of her life.Condition: Very good condition with expected old wear, the lotus inserts at the shoulders lost, minuscule nicks, light surface scratches, minor rubbing to gilt, the seal plate possibly a later replacement. Fine, naturally grown, smooth patina, showing signs of extensive wor and caress. The interior with sacred contents, probably original to the statue.Weight: 1,536 gDimensions: Height 17.2 cmThe present bronze wasmissioned to honor the most important Tibetan lama at the 18th-century Qing court, the Third Changkya Hutuktu, Rolpai Dorje (1717-1786). The identification is facilitated by the distinctive congenital bump on his lower right cheek. Meanwhile, the bronze is alsoprised of the same hat and iconography that typify his sculptures. By each of his arms is a lotus holder that would have supported two separately cast lotus stems, with a sword emerging from the flower on his right sid