A SET OF GILT-BRONZE VAJRA AND A PARCEL-GILT BRONZE CEREMONIAL BELL, GHANTA

MING DYNASTY, 15TH-16TH CENTURY

Details

A SET OF GILT-BRONZE VAJRA AND A PARCEL-GILT BRONZE CEREMONIAL BELL, GHANTA
MING DYNASTY, 15^TH-16^TH CENTURY
The eight-prong vajra has a central bulb flanked on either side by a row of lotus petals. The ghanta has a gilt handle cast with a face of Buddha wearing an eight-foliate crown, supporting a band of lotus petals and surmounted by a vajra-form finial. The domed-shaped bell is decorated at the shoulder with radiating lotus petals each containing a Lantsa Sanskrit, above a band of horizontal vajra symbols within beaded borders that are repeated above the splayed foot in vertical form. The body is further decorated with a row of animal masks suspending beaded strings. The interior of the bell is further decorated with five lotus petals and a symbol.
Vajra: 6 3/4 in. (17.2 cm.) long
Bell: 9 3/8 in. (23.9 vm.) high

Provenance

Spiritual practice center in Portland, Oregon, since late 1990s

Conditions of sale

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Lot Essay

The vajra (ritual thunderbolt) and ghanta (ritual bell) are important implements in tantric Buddhism, representing masculine compassion and feminine wisdom, respectively, and are used in various rituals and meditations in Vajrayana Buddhism. It is rare to find an original set as the present lot, and it is interesting to note that the present bell is cast with Om ah hum , which forms the beginning of the Padmasambhava mantra, Om Ah Hum Vajra Guru Padma Siddhi Hum. Compare a related Tibetan ritual bell cast with the same mantra on the interior, illustrated in Monarchy and Its Buddhist Way, Tibetan-Buddhist Ritual Implements in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, 1999, p. 76, no. 8. Compare also a similar example with Xuande incised mark, sold at The Perfect Countenance- Fine Buddhist Works of Art, Christie’s Hong Kong, 31 May 2017, lot 2809. Further, compare to a similar example of vajra and ghanta, sold at Sotheby’s New York, 20 March 2013, lot 258.

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