Page 108 - Sotheby's October 3 2017 Tantra Buddhost Art

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A GILT-BRONZE FIGURE OF A 十八世紀
WORLDLY PROTECTOR 蒙古鎏金銅守護神像
MONGOLIA, 18TH CENTURY
此像配有十八至十九世紀蒙古金屬龕。

seated on a horned beast with both arms raised, wearing
beaded jewels around the bare chest, adorned with a billowing
scarf and diaphanous dhoti, the ferocious face heightened
with three glaring eyes, below a five-skull crown and flaming
hair, all supported on a platform of roiling blood; together
with a mixed-metal ga’u box, Mongolia, 18th-19th century
9.8 cm, 3¾ in.

This diminutive and powerful worldly protector is depicted
astride a horned beast which gallops through a sea of roiling
blood, denoted here with traces of extant red polychromy.
His three eyes bulge and his mouth is agape baring his
teeth. Fierce worldly protectors within the Tibetan Buddhist
pantheon, such as the current work, are adapted from earlier
Indian Buddhist traditions, and can be found through the
Nikaya, Mahayana and Vajrayana schools. These are not
enlightened beings, but most often subjugated spirits which
have been bound by oath to variously uphold and protect
the dharma in all its forms: the sangha or communties of
practitioners; the land or particular monasteries; and the
sacred teachings and specific religious texts.

HK$ 80,000-120,000
US$ 10,300-15,400

106 SOTHEBY’S 蘇富比