Page 64 - Bonhams Image of Devotion Hong Kong December 2, 2021

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A CLAY PLAQUE OF HERUKA A COPPER ALLOY TSA TSA MOLD OF
BHUTAN, 18TH CENTURY THE LONG-LIFE TRINITY
With remains of polychromy. TIBET, 19TH CENTURY
Himalayan Art Resources item no.58607 Himalayan Art Resources item no.4522
16 cm (6 1/4 in.) high 6 cm (2 3/8 in.) high

HKD65,000 - 95,000 HKD10,000 - 15,000

不丹 十八世紀 泥塑嚇魯嘎像 西藏 十九世紀 銅質長壽三尊像擦擦模

This detailed plaque depicts a rare form of Heruka from the Lama This bronze tsa tsa mold was created to impress small clay
Gongdu Cycle of Revealed Treasure teachings in the Nyingma amulets of the Three Long-Life Deities (Amitayus, White Tara, and
tradition, which was reputedly discovered by Sanggye Lingpa (1340- Ushnishavijaya). See a clay tsa tsa of the same subject, produced with
96) in the great cave of Puri Rinchen Barwa in 1364. Standing on two a similar mold, at the Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto (HAR 77507).
prone figures, the red-bodied Heruka embraces his consort with his
primary hands, with the remaining four arms outstretched, holding a Provenance
Private Hong Kong Collection
sword, a vase, a skull cup and a trident. See a Bhutanese thangka
depicting the same deity sold at Bonhams, New York, 12-19 March
2021, lot 373. Also, see a Bhutanese clay tsa tsa of Padmasambhava
published in Henss, Buddhist Ritual Art of Tibet, 2020, p.384, fig.515.

Provenance
Private European Collection, acquired in the 1980s

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