TIBET, CIRCA 15TH CENTURY

This sculpture would likely have been made with metalwork or repoussé fittings for its limbs and adornments. Highly prized exotic dark woods such as ebony were not native to Tibet and in this case possibly imported from Sri Lanka. Compare to a dark wood figure of Mahakala in the Musée Guimet, G. Béguin, Art Esotérique de l'Himâlaya, 1990, cat. no. 27. The author notes that the importation of exotic woods harkens to the Tang Dynasty and that during the 15th century, several maritime expeditions to the coast of Africa brought such woods to the imperial ateliers.