Page 81 - Christies Indian and Himalayan Art Sept 2015

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A POLYCHROMED WOODEN CABINET
TIBET, 19TH CENTURY

The rectangular cabinet with two hinged doors painted with polychromy, each door
depicting scenes with animals and ritual implements, including birds, elephants, deer,
horses, and serpents, with a band of triangles back by a sea of blood below and a panel with
scroll design above, topped with a panel depicting hung fayed tiger and demon skins, the
inside back wall with an image of a pair of dancing citipati on a lotus base with a faming
aureole, with images of animals spewing guts on the inside left and right walls
55º x 48¬ x 32¡ in. (140.3 x 123.5 x 82.2 cm.)

$15,000-20,000

PROVENANCE:

Rubin Museum of Art, accessioned in 2002

PUBLISHED:

Himalayan Art Resource (himalayanart.org), item no. 24015

Citipati represent two Buddhist ascetics who were so deeply absorbed in meditation that they
were unaware of their own death, and changed into wrathful death spirits with vows of eternal
vengeance. They are typically shown as a male and female pair of skeletons intertwined in a
frenzied dance. Primarily, citipati are employed as a wealth practice and special protection for the
Vajrayogini practice.