QIANLONG SEVEN-CHARACTER MARK AND OF THE PERIOD (1736-95)

Details

A FINE IMPERIAL GILT-BRONZE FIGURE OF PALDEN LHAMO
Qianlong seven-character mark and of the period (1736-95)
The fierce figure finely cast with bulging eyes and protruding fangs, wearing a crown of skulls below erect and billowiing hair, suspended from the neck a garland of severed heads, seated on a caparisoned horse, standing on a detachable base cast with skeletons in turbulent waves surrounded by a rocky mountain border, incised with Da Qing Qianlong nian jing zao (Respectfully made in the Qianlong reign period of the great Qing dynasty), attribute missing
55/8 in. (14.5 cm.) high

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Lot Essay

Palden Lhamo, or Sri Devi in Sanskrit, is the Tibetan Protectress who is normally portrayed riding a horse and is the most important guardian deity of Tibetan Buddhism. The fierce nature of this character, intensified by the fiery red hair, represents one of the many wrathful deities who are reputed to keep evil at bay. A closerly related larger example in the Palace Museum Collection, Beijing, also inscribed, was included in the exhibition Cultural Relics of Tibetan Buddhism Collected in the Qing Palace, Hong Kong, 1992, and is illustrated in the catalogue p. 107, col. pl. 78.

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