The Buddhist lama Karma Pakshi

Karma Pakshi (1206–1283), one of the Karma Kagyu order’s most important early lamas, sports his characteristic pointed beard in this bronze; he also wears the Karma Kagyu order’s great talisman, a famous Black Hat. Karma Pakshi, an impressive scholar, was one of the lamas who converted the Mongol conqueror Kublai Khan to Tibetan Buddhism.

Karma Pakshi’s successors in the Karma Kagyu order continued to court Chinese emperors. Dezhin Zhegpa, a later Karmapa, is said to have revealed the Black Hat— magically floating just above his head—to the Chinese Yongle emperor, thus leading to the emperor’s conversion. Taken from Tibet to Sikkim during the Cultural Revolution, the Black Hat of the Karmapas has since been stolen, and its whereabouts remain unknown.