Page 19 - Bonhams Asian Art Sydney November 4, 2020

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A COPPER ALLOY REPOUSSÉ FIGURE OF HAYAGRIVA eyes, broad beak-like nose, terrific mouth of bared fangs, and
Mongolia, 18th/ 19th century protruding tongue. Each of the three faces are framed with a five-skull
39.1cm high crown, one of the "eight cemetery ornaments" adorning the deity,
others including an elephant-skin cloak, a human-skin vest, and a
$10,000 - 15,000 tiger-skin skirt, each can be identified by a pair of hands tied as a knot
Considered to be the terrific form of Amitabha or Avalokiteshvara, across his neck, and the heads of an elephant and a tiger on his back.
Hayagriva is one of the main archetype deities (yidam) of Tibetan The arrangement of jewellery enhances the pectorals and swollen bell,
Buddhism. Hayagriva, or the Horse-Necked One, derives his name and four pairs of legs stomp firmly on eight nagas in snake form.
from the small horses' heads that surmount the deity's head. He
was created originally to conquer a demon named Matong Rudra, Compare a six-armed Hayagriva in the Jacques Marchais Museum
and is said to possess ability to cure disease. Especially favoured by published in Lipton & Ragnubs, Treasure of Tibetan Art, New York,
the Nyingma Order from its earliest days, it later became popular in Oxford, 1996, p.111, no.47, and a Mahakala attributed to the
the Sakya, Kagyu, and Jonang traditions and was adopted into the Dolonnor workshop, sold with Bonhams, The Maitri Collection of
Gelugpa School. Indian, Himalayan & Southeast Asian Art, New York, 20 March 2018,
Sale 24597, Lot 3215
The particular form of this lot is called "Secret Accomplishment
Hayagriva". Following the Gelugpa preference for a more animated 蒙古 十八至十九世紀 三面六臂馬頭觀音銅像
warrior's pose, the deity's wrathful nature is amplified with bulging

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