Page 70 - 2020 September 23 Himalyan and Southeast Asian Works of Art Bonhams

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A GILT COPPER ALLOY FIGURE OF VAJRABHAIRAVA
TIBET, 18TH CENTURY
With cold gold and polychromy throughout the many faces and hair.
Himalayan Art Resources item no.16808
7 1/2 in. (19 cm) high

$250,000 - 350,000
西藏 十八世紀 銅鎏金大威德金剛像

This dramatic gilded bronze shows Vajrabhairava lunging in a warrior’s pose while in
interpenetrative congress with his consort, Vajravetali. Thirty-four of Vajrabhairava’s arms
encircle him and his partner, brandishing ritual weapons and attributes that symbolize his skillful
means. His sixteen legs trample a retinue of prostrate animals and Hindu gods, conveying his
supremacy over the physical realms of existence. His central face—that of a ferocious bull—
signifies his subjugation of Yama, the Lord of Death, and his triumph over the cycle of birth,
death, and rebirth. Vajrabhairava’s superposed animal and anthropomorphic heads are well-
modeled in this sculpture, with his enthralling primary face commanding the composition’s focal
point. Vajrabhairava and his consort are clad in matching jeweled aprons and garlands of skulls
and freshly severed heads. Vajravetali follows her consort’s stance, wrapping her left leg around
his waist and grasping onto him with her head thrown back, her fiery hair flowing down to her
waist.

Vajrabhairava is a wrathful manifestation of Manjushri, the Great Bodhisattva of Wisdom, who
takes this guise as a potent transformative teaching. The worship of Vajrabhairava enjoyed
great popularity throughout Tibet, Mongolia, and China during the Qing dynasty. This was
in large part due to Vajrabhairava being a primary yidam (transformative deity) of the Gelug
monastic order who ascended power in Tibet and were sponsored by the Qing dynasty. The
Qianlong Emperor himself (r.1733-1796) was also recognized as an earthly incarnation of
Manjushri, Vajrabhairava’s spiritual sire.

The present sculpture belongs to a group associated with foremost centers of power within
the Qing Empire in the 18th century. Closely related examples, showing similar construction,
regalia, and lotus pedestals have been attributed to Tashilunpo Monastery in Tibet (Bonhams,
Hong Kong, 29 November 2016, lot 132), and are held within the imperial collections of Rehol
Monastery, Chengde and the Qing Palace Collection, Beijing (Hsu, Buddhist Art from Rehol,
Taipei, 1999, p.97, no.29, and Wang (ed.), Zangchuan Fojiao Zaoxiang, Hong Kong, 1992,
p.92, no.64, respectively).

Provenance
Anthony P. Russo, by inheritance in 1994
Doyle, New York, 16 September 2008, lot 2043

68 | BONHAMS