Page 99 - Sotheby's October 3 2017 Tantra Buddhost Art

Simhamukha, the lion-faced dakini, is common to both the
Nyingma and Sarma schools of Tibetan Buddhism. In the
Nyingma tradition, Simhamukha manifests as the secret form
of Padmasambhava; whilst in the Sakya, Kagyu and Geluk
schools of the Sarma tradition, Simhamukha is associated
with the Chakrasamvara Tantras as a yidam or meditational
deity.

An elegant symmetry is created in the present lot by the
use of the utpala stalk on the base element to create a
countersupport. Evidence of this stylistic convention in
Tibetan sculpture appears as early as the thirteenth century;
see two bronze figures depicting Vajravarahi from the
Zimmerman Collection published in Pratapaditya Pal, Art of
the Himalayas: Treasures from Nepal and Tibet, New York,
1991, pp. 114-116, cat. no. 57a-b.

Compare the beaded girdle, stepped base with an upper
row of beaded pearls; bulbous utpala petals; long garland of
skulls reaching down to the right heel; and utpala stalk strut
supporting the right knee bent in graceful ardhaparyankasana
of the present work with a sixteenth century ungilt bronze
figure of Vashyavajravarahi in the Victoria and Albert Museum
published in Ulrich von Schroeder, Indo-Tibetan Bronzes,
Hong Kong, 1981, pp. 470-471, cat. no. 129G.

THE HEART OF TANTRA – BUDDHIST ART INCLUDING PROPERTY FROM THE NYINGJEI LAM COLLECTION 97