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Lot Essay
This luminous image, richly gilt and finely incised with various motifs, depicts Mahachakra Vajrapani, the Tantric form of the bodhisattva, Vajrapani. Considered a yidam – a meditational deity that can convey certain powers or spiritual insights - Mahachakra Vajrapani is found in many of the various schools of Tibetan Buddhism, but is perhaps most important to the Gelug sect.
The figure of Mahachakra Vajrapani strides in alidhasana on prone images of Shiva and Brahma, representing the ascendency of Buddhist theology over worship of the Hindu gods. He holds his primary hands in abhayamudra and varadamudra, the gestures of reassurance and giving. His raised right hand holds the vajra, the symbolic thunderbolt that gives rise to his name, and with which he strikes down ignorance. The other hands hold the body of a great naga, or snake, which he dramatically gnashes with his teeth. Snakes hold special importance in the religions of South Asia, with both auspicious connotations but also dangerous power, given the potency of their venom. In the present figure Mahachakra Vajrapani demonstrates his significant power, both corporeally but also tantrically, in both mastering the wily serpent and converting the poison of the venom into spiritual insight. His consort Mamaki wraps one leg around Vajrapani’s waist, her face pressed close to his, and holds aloft a skull cup and curved knife. Both figures are also adorned with various coiled nagas as armlets, anklets, and earrings, accentuating the connection to the power of mastering the serpent.
Both figures are raised on an elegant single-lotus base with a beaded rim and ornate band with incised decoration alternating between cross-hatched diaper and foliate motifs. The luxurious incised decoration continues onto the hems of the various figures’ robes, the tiger skin wrapped around Vajrapani’s waist, and even the body of the naga clutched in his teeth. Such masterful work, combined with the lavish turquoise inlay and rich, heavy gilding, indicates the work was likely the product of a master workshop. Stylistically, the work bears close resemblance to the atelier of Sonam Gyaltsen (active in the first half of the fifteenth century), who carried out a number of important works from his workshop in Shigatse in Central Tibet. Although the identity of Sonam Gyaltsen was only uncovered recently through the translation of an inscription on a large image of Eleven-Headed Avalokiteshvara, which came to the market in 2018, scholars have begun to establish his canon of works through stylistic association. The present work, a masterpiece of Tibetan metalworking, is certainly a part of this tradition.
Compare the rich gilding and use of inset turquoise with another image of Mahachakra Vajrapani, originally in the collection of Phillip Goldman, London, illustrated by Ulrich von Schroeder in Indo-Tibetan Bronzes, Hong Kong, 1981, p. 453, cat. no. 124E.
The figure of Mahachakra Vajrapani strides in alidhasana on prone images of Shiva and Brahma, representing the ascendency of Buddhist theology over worship of the Hindu gods. He holds his primary hands in abhayamudra and varadamudra, the gestures of reassurance and giving. His raised right hand holds the vajra, the symbolic thunderbolt that gives rise to his name, and with which he strikes down ignorance. The other hands hold the body of a great naga, or snake, which he dramatically gnashes with his teeth. Snakes hold special importance in the religions of South Asia, with both auspicious connotations but also dangerous power, given the potency of their venom. In the present figure Mahachakra Vajrapani demonstrates his significant power, both corporeally but also tantrically, in both mastering the wily serpent and converting the poison of the venom into spiritual insight. His consort Mamaki wraps one leg around Vajrapani’s waist, her face pressed close to his, and holds aloft a skull cup and curved knife. Both figures are also adorned with various coiled nagas as armlets, anklets, and earrings, accentuating the connection to the power of mastering the serpent.
Both figures are raised on an elegant single-lotus base with a beaded rim and ornate band with incised decoration alternating between cross-hatched diaper and foliate motifs. The luxurious incised decoration continues onto the hems of the various figures’ robes, the tiger skin wrapped around Vajrapani’s waist, and even the body of the naga clutched in his teeth. Such masterful work, combined with the lavish turquoise inlay and rich, heavy gilding, indicates the work was likely the product of a master workshop. Stylistically, the work bears close resemblance to the atelier of Sonam Gyaltsen (active in the first half of the fifteenth century), who carried out a number of important works from his workshop in Shigatse in Central Tibet. Although the identity of Sonam Gyaltsen was only uncovered recently through the translation of an inscription on a large image of Eleven-Headed Avalokiteshvara, which came to the market in 2018, scholars have begun to establish his canon of works through stylistic association. The present work, a masterpiece of Tibetan metalworking, is certainly a part of this tradition.
Compare the rich gilding and use of inset turquoise with another image of Mahachakra Vajrapani, originally in the collection of Phillip Goldman, London, illustrated by Ulrich von Schroeder in Indo-Tibetan Bronzes, Hong Kong, 1981, p. 453, cat. no. 124E.
