Page 48 - CHRISTIE'S Himalayan and SOutheast Asian Works of Art 09/13/17

PROPERTY FROM A DISTINGUISHED PRIVATE
WEST COAST COLLECTION

625
A LARGE GILT BRONZE FIGURE OF
VAJRABHAIRAVA AND VAJRA VETALI

SINO-TIBETAN, QIANLONG PERIOD,
18TH CENTURY
14¬ in. (37 cm.) high

$80,000-120,000

漢藏 乾隆時期 十八世紀 鎏金銅大威德金剛與
明妃立像

PROVENANCE

West Coast Art Market.
Acquired by the present owner by
19 December 1994.

PUBLISHED

Himalayan Art Resource (himalayanart.org),
item no. 24328

The ferocious god Vajrabhairava is the wrathful
form of Manjushri and a revered meditational
deity in the Gelugpa sect of Tibetan Buddhism,
the dominant religious power in Tibet in the
seventeenth century. Vajrabhairava also became
a prominent Buddhist icon in China under the
Qing emperors, who maintained direct links with
the dignitaries of the Gelugpa sect, including the
Dalai and Panchen Lamas. This form of Buddhism
fourished within China under Qing rule, inspiring
the construction of numerous temples in and
around the capital of Beijing. In the eighteenth
century, the Qianlong Emperor promoted himself
as a manifestation of Manjushri, establishing his
role as a spiritual and political leader. Images of
Vajrabhairava, therefore, carried both religious
and political implications, promoting Gelugpa
spiritual practice while simultaneously endorsing
the heavenly mandate of the Emperor.

This impressive and heavily-cast fgure of
Vajrabhairava is cleverly constructed in several
pieces, expertly ftted together. Striding in
alidhasana, he tramples on animals and prostrate
fgures including Shiva, Vishnu, Indra, Brahma,
Kartika, Chandra, Surya and Ganesha, atop a
lotus base. In his primary hands he holds a curved
knife and skull cup, while his outstretched hands
radiate around him. His central face is in the
form of a ferocious bufalo, with bulging eyes and
faming brows, and is fanked and surmounted
by eight additional faces. Vetali wraps her left
leg around his waist, her fery red hair cascading
down her back as she tilts her head back to meet
her partner’s gaze. She too holds a skull cup
in her left hand and a curved knife in her right.
Compare the modeling, construction and style of
the present work with a slightly smaller example of
Vajrabhairava in union sold at Christie’s New York
on March 15-16th, 2015, lot 3214.

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