Seal of National Master

CHINA; Yuan dynasty

In 1253 the Mongol emperor Kublai Khan (reigned 1260–1294) of the Yuan dynasty invited Drogon Chogyal Phagpa, the Fifth Patriarch of the Sakya school of Tibetan Buddhism, to his court. Phagpa’s scholarship and realization impressed Kublai Khan, who became a devout Buddhist. He made Buddhism the state religion of Mongolia, appointed Phagpa as National Master in 1260, and asked him to rule the three provinces of Tibet. He was the first to be both the spiritual and temporal leader of Tibet.
This white jade seal was granted by Temur Khan (reigned 1294–1307) to the Fifth National Master Drakpa Ozer in 1295. There is a handle consisting of back-to-back fierce dragons, with a hole in between allowing a cord to be passed through so that it can be carried.
The square seal has a fine boundary, inside which the following is carved in Phagpa script, “the seal of the great Yuan National Master, leading monastics of various countries and revitalizing Buddhism.”