You have to hate or fear something a lot to do what China did to Tibetan Buddhism. In the early 20th century, Tibet had thousands of active monasteries; when the Cultural Revolution ended in 1976, it had fewer than 10. The politics of blame are always tricky; some scholars argue that Tibetans themselves, for complicated reasons, contributed to the purge. But one reality is plain: By the time the mass demolition wound down, centuries’ worth of religious art was gone.

Among the major losses was the Densatil Monastery. High in the mountains in central Tibet, it was founded in the 12th century and famed throughout Tibet for its art, particularly for a set of eight sculpture-encrusted and gilded stupas, or reliquary monuments, each over 10 feet tall, that stood in its worship hall. In the campaigns of destruction, Densatil was cruelly hit. It wasn’t just dismantled; it was pulverized. The assumption was that none of its art survived.

But some did survive, hidden away by devotees, or taken by Chinese military personnel. Beginning in the 1980s, astonishing examples of these metal sculptures — three-dimensional figures, relief plaques, architectural ornaments — that had covered the stupas began to appear with growing frequency on the Western market.