The Abbot’s peaceful face, aside from his wide pensive eyes, exhibits the thin, deep eyebrows and set lips common to sculpture from this time period of the Sakyapa order.¹ The jet-black, closely shaved head of the Abbot provides the only appearance of paint in the piece, aside from a hint of red behind his arms. Long, distended earlobes protrude slightly from the sides of the Abbot’s head. As a whole, the Abbot’s head exhibits the smooth lines, and gentle slopes found in the rest of his body.
      Above the Abbot’s head, the halo ornamentation forming the figure’s background comes to a gentle point. The swirling, decorative waves of his halo give the piece a more elegant appearance. Inside the ornamentation, and over the Abbot’s shoulders a number of flower (or flame) shapes rise up from behind the seated figure to further ornament and draw attention to the central Abbot. The Abbot's hands have darkened with age and wear. These darkened spots of the figure, also appearing on the Abbot’s left leg and again on the right side of the waving, halo ornamentation provide the only real contrast in the piece, breaking up the dull golden color along with the Abbot’s hair.
     The Abbot's thin, veil-like garments are augmented with jewelry that seems to cover his chest with a breastplate. Instead of a rigid covering, though, the decorative jewelry flows over the Abbot’s chest and shoulders where it becomes lost in the thin folds of his draped garments. A repeated, flowering mandalic pattern appears not only on this draped uppergarment but also on the cloth covering the Abbot’s legs from thigh to ankle, as well as on the cloak that drapes the Abbot’s shoulders and extends past his knees. This pattern takes the shape of a central circle and four surrounding cirles with accented thin rays emanating from within and serves to provide detail as well as a measure of respectful decoration.
     The diminutive stature of the gilt bronze figure of a Sakyapa Abbot belies the intricacy and love of detail found in works from Central and Southern Tibet during the 16th century. The seated, cross-legged Abbot appears meditative, and his joined hands form the symbol of teaching, or turning the wheel of Dharma.