A GILT COPPER ALLOY FIGURE OF MAHACHAKRA VAJRAPANI


TIBET, CIRCA 12TH CENTURYHimalayan Art Resources item no.68311 4 1/4 in. (10.7 cm) high
|西藏 約十二世紀 銅鎏金大輪金剛手像 This rare and unusual early Tibetan bronze depicts Mahachakra Vajrapani. The practice of Mahachakra Vajrapani was popularized by the Sakya school of Tibetan Buddhism, and later by the Gelug. Mahachakra Vajrapani is a yidam (meditational deity), an enlightened being who can be the focus of one's tantric practice, bestowing powers and spiritual attainments. The yidam strikes a dynamic pose, astride a makara and turtle, biting through the middle of a snake, and surmounted by an eagle (kyung). Mahachakra Vajrapani digesting a snake's venom is one of the most striking examples of tantric imagery in Tibetan Buddhism. Snakes are key to his wrathful symbolism, conveying his role of subduing harmful forces and converting 'poisonous' emotions into virtue (cf. van Alphen, in Bonhams, Hong Kong, 29 November 2016, lot 108). The denseness of the gilded figure's casting is representative of the power and vigor of early Tibetan bronzes. When compared to a later bronze in the Potala Palace, the Sakya may have codified Mahachakra Vajrapani's iconography as standing on human figures by the 13th-century (von Schroeder, Buddhist Sculpture in Tibet, Vol.II, Hong Kong, 2001, p.1115, no.292D). By contrast, earlier examples show great eccentricity, such as the present example's makara and kyung. A c.11th-century sculpture sold at Bonhams, New York, 13 March 2017, lot 3064, and a bronze published in Himalayan Art Resources (HAR 20349), show two other instances of eccentric early sculptures of Vajrapani. Exhibited Casting the Divine: Sculptures of the Nyingjei Lam Collection, Rubin Museum of Art, New York, 2012-13. Provenance The Nyingjei Lam Collection On loan to the Rubin Museum of Art, New York, 2005-2019