Page 26 - Bonhams Indian and Himalayan Art September 2013
P. 26
22
22 23
A black ground thangka of Yama Dharmaraja A gilt copper alloy figure of Yama Dhamaraja and Chamundi
Tibet, 18th century Tibet, 17th/18th century
Distemper on cloth; with a buffalo face and The Lord of Death astride the buffalo bedecked with beaded swags and crushing the prostrate body
holding a staff and flaming skull finial in his with blissful expression below, his right arm raised holding the skull club, his left displaying vitarka
outstretched right hand, the left hand with a mudra, adorned with a snake draped over his shoulders, a garland of freshly severed heads, and
coiled lasso, attended by his consort Chamundi festoons interlinked through central cakras, his bull’s head ablaze with bulging eyes and a vajra
who offers a blood-filled skullcup with her right nestled in his flame-like hair, his consort, Chamundi, rising up his left flank wearing an antelope
hand and a trident in her left, both are adorned skin and fierce expression, offering the nectared skull cup to his outstretched tongue.
with wrathful attire, bone ornaments, and various 7 1/2 in. (19 cm) high
skins, surrounded by swirling gilt-edged flames, $20,000 - 30,000
dancing chitipati below, a retinue of six wrathful
protectors, and Tsongkhapa with lineage masters This superb casting is distinguished by the naturalistic treatment of the buffalo and bull’s head and
above; a lengthy poetic inscription on the reverse powerful proportions of their bodies. Similar features can be found in a solitary Yama Dhamaraja in the
with a description of the deity in the first verse, Rubin Collection, see Rob Linrothe and Jeff Watt, Demonic Divine, New York, 2004, p. 177, no. 34.
mainly regarding the face, and a wish to assist
the deity in his effort for the dharma. Also see Pal, The Art of Tibet, New York, 1969, p.102, pl.72, von Schroeder, Indo-Tibetan Bronzes,
Image: 22 x 16 1/2 in. (56 x 42 cm) Hong Kong 1981, pp.550-551, pl.157E and Art Lamaique, Bruxelles, 1975, pl.87. Also compare
$8,000 - 12,000 with a Christie’s, Paris, December 7, 2007, lot 368. An earlier Tibetan example from the 14th/15th
century is illustrated in Buddhist Statues Tibet, Hong Kong 2003, pp.152-153, pl.146.
See lot 23 for further discussion of the subject.
Compare with a closely related example in the Provenance:
Rubin Museum of Art, see Linrothe and Watt, Private Northern Californian Collection
Demonic Divine, New York, 2005, fig. 1.4, p. 6. Acquired in the 1960s
24 | Bonhams
