Page 34 - Bonhams, Images of Devotion, April 21 2021
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A COPPER ALLOY FIGURE OF NARO DAKINI Striding on a prone figure with her head and skull cup raised to
TIBET, CIRCA 12TH CENTURY the sky, this expressive sculpture depicts Naro Dakini, a form of
Himalayan Art Resources item no.61937 Vajrayogini. Wrathful and triumphant, such figures of Naro Dakini are
15.2 cm (6 in.) high among Tibetan art’s most heroic portrayals of the feminine divine.
HKD80,000 - 120,000 This sculpture’s youthful figure, winding beaded necklace, and
looped girdle are stylistically similar to a c.12th-century Pala bronze
of Vajravarahi published in von Schroeder, Buddhist Sculptures in
西藏 約十二世紀 那若空行母銅像 Tibet, Hong Kong, 2001, p.286, no.94A. Her prominent garland,
assembled from severed heads tied together by the hair, compares
with that of another Tibetan Vajravarahi modelled after the Pala style
(ibid., p.1109, no.289B). Lastly, see a closely related bronze image of
Naro Dakini in the Potala Palace (ibid., p.227; second row from the
bottom, first on the left).
Provenance
Alice and Nasli Heeramaneck Collection
Sotheby’s, London, 7 July 1986, lot 110
32 | BONHAMS
