Lot 83
83
A Triangular Iron Box with Skull Decoration in Gold and Silver
PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE EUROPEAN COLLECTION
A Triangular Iron Box with Skull Decoration in Gold and Silver

TIBET, CIRCA 17TH CENTURY

Details
A Triangular Iron Box with Skull Decoration in Gold and Silver
Tibet, circa 17th Century
Very finely worked in iron, intricately incised and damascened with gold flames surrounding silver skulls, all between skull borders above and below
8¾ in. (22 cm.) wide
Literature
Exhibition catalogue, Rituels tibétains: Visions secrètes du Ve Dalaï Lama, Paris, Musée national des Arts asiatiques-Guimet, 2002, p. 160 and ill., cat. no. 129.
Exhibited
Paris, Musée national des Arts asiatiques-Guimet, Rituels tibétains: Visions secrètes du Ve Dalaï Lama, 2002, p. 160 and ill., cat. no. 129.

Lot Essay

In the Musée Guimet exhibition catalogue, Nathalie Bazin describes this box as a 'triangle sacrificiel' and relates it conceptually to yantras and mandala forms. Other examples include a box and cover (op. cit., fig. 127), while fig. 128 and the present example were clearly designed as open receptacles or stands.

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