Page 21 - Wrathful Images

Above left:
Fig. 4: A gilt-bronze figure of the Dharmapala Mahakala, Imperial China, mid-15th century, 22¾ in., 57.8 cm,
Sotheby’s New York, 26th March 1998, lot 161.
Above right:
Fig. 5: A gilt-bronze figure of Yamantaka, Imperial China, early Ming dynasty, 31½ in., 80 cm,
Sotheby’s New York, 25th March 1999, lot 122.
圖四：御製四臂大黑天，銅鎏金，十五世紀中，57.8公分，紐約蘇富比1998年3月26日，編號161
圖五：御製大威德金剛，銅鎏金，明初，80公分，紐約蘇富比1999年3月25日，編號122

Hong Kong, 30th November 2016, lot 3234; a Vajrabhairava and consort sold at Nagel Auktionen, 23rd
June 2021, lot 8; a Shadbhuja Mahakala and a 70 cm Guhyasamaja in Ulrich von Schroeder, Indo-Tibetan
Bronzes, Hong Kong, 1981, pls 151A-D; a Mahachakra Vajrapani now in the Linden-Museum, Stuttgart,
ibid, pl. 151B; and an Ekavira Vajrabhairava present whereabouts unknown but see Jeff Watt, www.
himalayanart.org, item no. 30430.

Panjarnata Mahakala is the fierce protector deity of the Hevajra cycle of Tantras and Wisdom Protector
of Tibetan Buddhism. In the Yuan dynasty this militant form of the deity was designated State Protector,
whose power was invoked in military engagements. The deity is closely linked with the Hevajra Tantra,
the esoteric Buddhist practice in which Yuan and early Ming emperors were initiated as a means of
endowing a spiritual legitimacy to their imperial status. Panjarnata Mahakala was thus a potent symbol
of authority in the early Ming dynasty, powerfully expressed in the fearsome attitude of this rare and
highly important gilt-bronze sculpture.

尊，Gumpel家族舊藏，1904年經德魯奧大樓拍賣： 獨雄大威德金剛，現存處不詳，可見傑夫・瓦特，喜馬
其一，擁妃大威德金剛，後售於紐約蘇富比1999年 拉雅藝術資源網，編號30430。
3月25日，編號122（圖五）；其二，獨雄大威德金剛，
後售於香港佳士得2016年11月30日，編號3234；其 寶帳大黑天乃喜金剛密續忿怒相護法，是藏傳佛教
三，擁妃大威德金剛，後售於德國納高2021年6月23 智慧怙主。元代篤信此怖畏形像可安邦護國，尤召請
日，編號8；其四、其五，六臂大黑天、密集金剛，錄烏 寶帳大黑天神通以佑戰事。寶帳大黑天與喜金剛密
爾里希・馮・施羅德，《Indo-Tibetan Bronzes》，香 續息息相關，且為元代及明初帝皇所用，以證君權正
港，1981年，圖版151A-D；其六，大輪金剛手，現藏林 統。因此，寶帳大黑天於明朝新政之初備受倚重，以
登博物館，斯圖加特，錄前述出處，圖版151B；其七， 怖畏姿態示人，雄健威嚴，莫過此尊。

36 SOTHEBY’S COMPLETE CATALOGUING AVAILABLE AT SOTHEBYS.COM/N11409 37