Page 64 - Sporer Collection of Himalayan bronzes
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A LACQUERED AND GILT BRONZE FIGURE OF YAMA
TIBET, 16TH/17TH CENTURY Tantric Buddhist Art, China House Gallery, China Institute of
America, New York, 14 March 1974 – 24 May 1974
Exquisitely cast striding in alidhasana on the back of a buffalo
over a prostrate fgure on a single-lotus base, both hands raised in PUBLISHED:
vitarkamudra, adorned with a garland of severed heads and a beaded
harness, the face in the form of a ferocious buffalo, with bared fangs E. Olson, Tantric Buddhist Art, 1974, pp.32, 77, cat. no.35
and bulging eyes surmounted by a skull tiara and fame-like hair with Himalayan Art Resource (himalayanart.org), item no. 24037
red polychromy, with an arched billowing scarf about the shoulders,
backed by a richly gilt faming aureole Yama, the ancient Hindu god of death, is one of the eight dharmapalas
7¬ in. (19.4 cm.) high in Tibetan Buddhism. Whereas in Hindu iconography Yama rides a
buffalo, in Buddhist representations he has the head of a buffalo and
$200,000-300,000 rides a bull. An important wrathful deity and protector in the Buddhist
pantheon, he is also related to the hell realms, and is therefore by nature
PROVENANCE: terrifying in appearance.
The Sporer Collection, New Jersey, acquired by 4 March 1973 The present fgure is particularly well cast and bears stylistic resemblance
to Qing dynasty examples. A later work from the Folker Collection bears
62 THE SPORER COLLECTION OF HIMALAYAN SCULPTURE the same posture, proportions, and stylistic treatment of details such as
the jewelry on Yama and the bull (see U. von Schroeder, Indo-Tibetan
Bronzes, pp.550-551, pl.157E). Exceptionally rare in the present example
is the presence of the red lacquer throughout, which imparts a deep
lustre to the surface and enhances the deity’s wrathful character.
