A bronze purification vessel with Vajradhaka

TIBET, CIRCA 16TH CENTURY

Details

A bronze purification vessel with Vajradhaka
Tibet, circa 16th century
The stout wrathful figure rearing backward with mouth agape squatting with legs squarely planted atop a disc-shaped base with a border of repeating vajras, his arms crossed before his chest holding a vajra in each hand, wearing beaded jewelry and a garland of severed heads, all supported on a pierced cylindrical base decorated with a vajra-and-scroll motif mounted on a square base with scrolling feet, the underside of the base with an eight-petalled lotus surmounted by a triangular yantra
7 1/8 in. (18.2 cm.) high

Provenance

Onno Janssens Collection, Netherlands, acquired from Sotheby's, 24 March 2004, lot 68

Literature

Himalayan Art Resources, www.himalayanart.org, item no. 66744

Lot Essay

This vessel is used in rituals pertaining to purification of sins. Black sesame seeds are inserted through the mouth into the base filled with hot coals. For another example, see P. Pal, Art of the Himalayas, 1991, p. 129, fig. 69.

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