Page 58 - March 23 2022 Boinghams NYC Indian and Himalayan Art

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A BRONZE FIGURE OF VAJRAVARAHI 西藏 帕拉風格 十三世紀 銅金剛亥母像
TIBET, PALA STYLE, 13TH CENTURY
來源:
9¡ in. (23.8 cm.) high Koller藝廊, 蘇黎世, 1986年 (傳)
紐約蘇富比, 2008年3月19日, 拍品編號301
$30,000-50,000
出版:
PROVENANCE: “喜馬拉雅藝術資源” (Himalayan Art Resources), 編號8041
Galerie Koller, Zurich, 1986, by repute.
Sotheby's New York, 19 March 2008, lot 301.
LITERATURE:
Himalayan Art Resources, item no. 8041.

The sow (varahi) head projecting from the present figure’s proper-right temple
identifies this dakini as the wrathful Vajravarahi manifestation of Vajrayogini.
Dakinis are goddesses who dance in the sky and symbolize wisdom; the sow’s
head represents delusion that must be conquered during tantric practices.
Vajravarahi is the consort of Chakrasamvara with whom she is often depicted
in a passionate sexual embrace, but she is also an important deity in her
own right, as can be gleaned from the presented large example. Here, the
adamantine goddess commands a fierce scowl, with sharp fangs bulging from
the corners of her mouth. She lifts a kartika in her right hand and extends a
kapala in her left. She dons a skull tiara, a necklace of pendant jewels and a
heavy garland of severed heads, who’s plaited hair weaves into the thick rope
draped across her bodice. Contrary to her savage expression, she is dancing
in bliss, weightlessly balancing on her left leg. The dichotomy exemplifies both
the passion and compassion Vajravarahi embodies.
The intensity of Indian Tantrism inspired many Tibetans from the eleventh
century onward, who were likewise taken with the Pala bronzes cast in
northeast India during the same period. This thirteenth century Tibetan
bronze undoubtably draws inspiration from the Pala style. Compare the
posture and details such as the style of the severed heads hung on twisted
rope with a twelfth century Pala bronze Vajradaka published by U. von
Schroeder in Buddhist Sculptures in Tibet,Hong Kong, 2001, p. 295, fig. 98E.

A bronze figure of Vajradaka, Northeast India, Pala Period,
12th century, published in U. von Schroeder in Buddhist (reverse)
Sculptures in Tibet, Hong Kong, 2001, p. 295, fig. 98E.
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