A GILT COPPER ALLOY VAJRACHARYA CROWN


NEPAL, CIRCA 18TH CENTURY Himalayan Art Resources item no.61905 10 5/8 in. (27 cm) high
|尼泊爾 約十八世紀 銅鎏金金剛法師冠 This ritual crown would have been worn by a Newari Buddhist priest, called a vajracharya ('master of the vajra'), during ritual practice or while officiating ceremonies. The crown's Buddhas of the Five Directions and its axis mundial vajra finial, Pal notes, "...add a cosmic dimension to the crown; by wearing it the priest himself becomes homologized with the cosmic principle or divine essence." (Art of the Himalayas, New York, 1991, p.49). Compare with a closely related crown in the Victoria and Albert Museum (Guy, Indian Temple Sculpture, London, 2018, p.59. pl.59), and another, dated 1864, in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (36.25.2979).