TIBET, 15TH CENTURY

The present work is a particularly charming depiction of the god of wealth, Jambhala. The diminutive figure sits on four overturned vessels, and holds a fifth, smaller vase under his right arm, all of which are spilling strings of jewels. He holds a fruit in his outstretched right hand and a mala in his left, and clutches a mongoose under his left arm. The vases, fruit, mala and jewel-spitting mongoose are all traditional symbols of wealth with origins in early Indian art. The specific iconographic representation of the present figure, with Jambhala seated on four vases, is relatively rare; most works in sculpture and painting from this period depict Jambhala seated on a traditional lotus base. Another nearly identical example of roughly the same size, however, is known and illustrated by R. Bigler in Art and Faith at the Crossroads: Tibeto-Chinese Buddhist Images and Ritual Implements from the 12th to the 15th Century, Zurich, 2013, p. 93, no. 35. Bigler suggests the small size of that work meant it might have been worshipped in a traveling shrine, or gau.
Himalayan Art Resources, item no. 24567.