A FINE GILT-BRONZE FIGURE OF MAHAKALA18th century The ferocious deity with flaming hair striding in alidhasana on a prostrate figure with an elephant head, all atop a lotus-petal stand, the deity's six arms holding various ritualistic ornaments including a kapala and kartrika on the primary hands, wearing a tiger skin loin cloth, adorned with a billowing scarf and various jewelleries. 19.5cm (7 5/8in) high. 十八世紀 銅鎏金六臂大黑天像 The protector deity Mahakala is a wrathful form of the primordial Vajradhara, the supreme essence of all Buddhas. He can be two-armed, four-armed or six-armed as in the present lot. In his six-armed form he is also considered as a fierce and powerful manifestation of Avalokiteshvara, the Bodhisattva ofpassion. Mahakala's fearsome appearance and the terrifying implements that he holds display his capability to cope with our persistent and unwanted negativities. His most distinctive symbolic attributes are the chopper kartri and the skull bowl kapala filled with blood, symbolising the sharp edge of wisdom shredding all materialistic negative attitudes in the human-skull bowl of emptiness that holds the blood of defeated evil and demonic elements. pare with a related powerful figure of Mahakala, 17th century, in the Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, illustrated by M.Rhie and R.Thurman, Wisdom andpassion: The Sacred Art of Tibet , New York, 1996, pl.111. See also a six-armed Mahakala illustrated by B.Lipton and N.Ragnubs, Treasures of Tibetan Art: Collections of the Jacques Marchais Museum of Tibetan Art , New York and Oxford, 1996, pl.84. pare with a related gilt-bronze figure of Mahakala, 18th century, which was sold at London, 15 May 2014, lot 314.