Page 95 - Sporer Collection of Himalayan bronzes

PROVENANCE:

The Sporer Collection, New Jersey, acquired by 4 March 1973

EXHIBITED:

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

PUBLISHED:

E. Olson, Tantric Buddhist Art, 1974, pp.26, 54, cat. no.13
Himalayan Art Resource (himalayanart.org), item no. 24056

This fgure would have formed the cover of a round vessel used in rituals
pertaining to purifcation. Black sesame seeds are inserted through the
mouth into the base flled with hot coals. The resulting smoke purifes the
practitioner from deflements; for another example, see P. Pal, Art of the
Himalayas, 1991, p.129, fg.69.

THE SPORER COLLECTION OF HIMALAYAN SCULPTURE 93