Page 80 - Christie's Inidian and HImalayan Works of Art, March 2019
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A BRONZE FIGURE OF BLACK JAMBHALA Kalajambhala or Black Jambhala holds a
TIBET, 12TH-13TH CENTURY mongoose, disgorging jewels as a reminder that
4æ in. (12.1 cm.) high generosity yields abundance. As the destroyer of
snakes, the mongoose symbolizes the destruction
$20,000-30,000
of greed. Kalajambhala is a wealth deity
popularized in Tibet by Bari Lotsawa (b. 1040)
PROVENANCE
and the Kashmiri teacher Shakyashri Bhadra. The
The Cheng Huan, S.C. collection, 1980s, by repute
greenish metal alloy, fat lotus petals, and large
efigy of the present fgure are indications of its
early Tibetan origin. A very similar Kalajambhala
dated to the twelfth century is illustrated by
Ulrich von Schroeder in Indo-Tibetan Bronzes,
Hong Kong, 1981, p. 179, fg. 33D.
Himalayan Art Resources (himalayanart.org),
item no. 24456.
78
