Page 68 - Sporer Collection of Himalayan bronzes

27
A GILT BRONZE FIGURE OF MAHAKALA PANJARNATA
TIBETO-CHINESE, 16TH CENTURY

Squatting on a human fgure over a lotus base, wearing a tiger skin
and a bone apron around his waist, a billowing sash around his
shoulders, adorned with multiple beaded necklaces, a snake and a
garland of severed heads, holding a curved knife in his right hand
and a kapala in his left, the face with three bulging eyes and mouth
opened in a ferocious expression, the faming polychromed hair
crowned with an elaborate tiara
9¿ in. (23 cm.) high

$250,000-350,000

PROVENANCE:

The Sporer Collection, New Jersey, acquired in New Delhi,
3 November 1971

EXHIBITED:

Tantric Buddhist Art, China House Gallery, China Institute of
America, New York, March 14, 1974 – May 24, 1974

PUBLISHED:

E. Olson, Tantric Buddhist Art, 1974, pp.21, 74, cat. no.32
Himalayan Art Resource (himalayanart.org), item no. 24040

Panjaranata Mahakala, the Great Black One of
the Pavilion Tantra, is the protector for the Shri
Hevajra cycle of Tantras. Most often depicted
in painting and stone sculpture, images of this
wrathful deity in bronze, especially gilt bronze,

are rare. One of the few bronze comparables is
a Yongle Period work from the Potala Palace in
Lhasa (U. von Schroeder, Buddhist Sculpture
in Tibet: Volume Two, Tibet and China, 2001,
p.1260, fg.348A). Although from different
periods, both works depict the robust god
squatting on a recumbent human fgure.
However, unlike the Potala bronze which
stands with feet squarely planted, the Sporer
bronze appears to be in motion, dancing atop
the prone fgure. This sense of movement is
further accentuated by his tilting head which is
encircled by a billowing scarf. Even his arms are
positioned in an asymmetric fashion, adding
to the vitality of his posture. The powerfully
modeled form and richly gilt surface,
coupled with this unique dynamism, makes
this work a rare and seminal depiction of
Panjaranata Mahakala.

66 THE SPORER COLLECTION OF HIMALAYAN SCULPTURE