Page 75 - Bonhams Himalayan, Indian Art march 2015

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A necromancer’s bone ensemble
Tibet, 19th century Indian, Himalayan & Southeast Asian Art | 73
The girdle with seven large and six small
leaves finely carved with various tantric
divinities, above a lattice of beads and
auspicious symbols, and makara panels
along the bottom; together with a crown, a
necklaces, two armlets, a leg band, an extra
finial, and two extra roundels.
Various Irregular: Girdle: 29 x 30 1/4 in. (73.7
x 76.8 cm); Largest leaf: 6 1/4 in. (16 cm)
long; Armlets: 4 x 5 1/4 in. (10 x 13.3 cm);
Roundels: 2 x 1/2 in. (5 x 3.7 cm)
$15,000 - 25,000

As noted by Marsh: ‘Bone aprons were
worn as ritual garments meant to vivify the
practitioner or priest during Tantric ceremonial
practices. The significance of wearing
such ornamentation symbolizes one’s own
death and the necessary release of one’s
attachment to the human physical body in
order to effectively pursue enlightenment. This
is further realized in the use of human bones
collected from charnel fields.’ - Mirrors of the
Heart-Mind, Huntington Archive, 1998

Male and female Buddhas of the Highest
Yoga Tantras, the most advanced meditations
within Vajrayana Buddhism, typically wear
a set of six bone ornaments, which include
skull crowns. The ornaments represent
the enlightened qualities of six Buddhas
(Akshobhya, Ratnasambhava, Amitabha,
Amoghasiddhi, Vairochana, and Vajrasattva)
and symbolize the six paramitas or
‘perfections’ (charity, patience, discipline,
perseverance, meditation, and insight)
that form the core of Tantric Buddhist
methodology (Huntington and Bangdel, Circle
of Bliss, Los Angeles, 2003, p. 362, no. 105).

Compare with a very closely related examples
in the National Museum, Scotland acquired
by Major William John Ottley (A.1905.352),
in the Museum Volkenkunde, Leiden (see
Goidsenhoven, Art Lamaïque, Arts des Dieux,
Brussels, 1970, p. 237, X4), and published
in Monasterios y lamas del Tibet, Madrid,
Fundación ‘La Caixa,’ 2000, p. 117, no. 55. Also
compare with other aprons sold at Christie’s,
New York, 25 March 2004, lot 98 and Bonhams,
New York, 17 September 2014, lot 71.

Referenced
HAR – himalayanart.org/image.cfm/41254.html

Provenance
Sotheby’s, New York, 28 March 1996, lot 238