Page 54 - CHRISTIE'S Himalayan and SOutheast Asian Works of Art 09/13/17

(actual size)

ANOTHER PROPERTY Finely cast, this bronze fgure of Shadbhuja Mahakala stands in alidhasana on
a prostrate fgure of Ganapati over a lotus base. Every detail has been skillfully
628 rendered giving him a jewel-like quality. He holds a curved knife and skull cup
A GILT BRONZE FIGURE OF MAHAKALA in his primary hands and various implements in the others. He wears a tiger
skin around his waist and is adorned with snakes, beaded jewelry, a garland
SINO-TIBET, 18TH CENTURY of severed heads and a billowing sash. His wrathful demeanor is accentuated
5º in. (12.8 cm.) high by bulging eyes and bared fangs. His faming red hair is surmounted by a skull
$20,000-30,000 tiara. Traces of polychromy and some hard-stones remain intact. Compare
with another eighteenth century gilt bronze fgure of a six-armed Mahakala of
漢藏 十八世紀 鎏金銅大黑天立像 similar size which sold at Christie’s New York on 13th-14th September 2012,
lot 1279.
PROVENANCE

Private Collection, Germany, 1990s.
Acquired by the present owner from a public sale, 8 December 2014,
lot 133

PUBLISHED

Himalayan Art Resource (himalayanart.org), item no. 24331

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