Yamantaka Mandala with Imperial Portraits
China, Yuan dynasty, ca. 1330–1332
Silk tapestry (kesi); 96 5/8 x 82 1/4 in. (245.4 x 208.9 cm)
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York Purchase, Lila Acheson Wallace
Gift, 1992 (1992.54)
Khubilai Khan and his successors moved their capital from
Khar Khorum in Mongolia to Dadu (now known as Beijing) in
China and created a new dynasty in the Chinese tradition.
They called their new dynasty the Yuan, which means "original"
or "prime," an idea drawn from ancient Chinese philosophical
texts. The Yuan dynasty (1279–1368), which controlled
China and Mongolia, was the dominant realm of the four khanates
that made up the vast Mongol
Empire.