Tibet, 17th century

According to Buddhist scripture, the bardo is a realm or intermediate state between death and rebirth where one’s consciousness experiences vivid phenomena, including horrifying imagery related to negative karmic debts. For those with proper Buddhist training, this stage can provide great opportunity for liberation, allowing them to overcome illusion and worldly attachment. Animal-headed deities who inhabit the bardo realms are typically depicted in painting. Few sculptural examples are known, making the present group particularly rare. For painted examples of bardo figures, see a fifteenth century illustrated text in the Rubin Museum of Art which shows numerous forms of bardo deities, many of which directly relate to the present example (RMA acc.# F1998.16.5). A single bardo figure from the Sporer Collection, possibly related to the present group, sold at Christie’s New York on 15 September 2015 for $12,500 (lot 22).