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拍品专文
Tantrism had its roots in the early centuries of the Common Era, and originated as a series of transgressive practices – the consumption of flesh, for instance, or sexual practice in a cremation ground that were believed to provide rapid spiritual progress. Through tantric worship, practitioners could embody the deity of their worship, absorbing its spiritual or physical abilities. Because of its inherent dangers, tantrism required extensive initiations and training. By the Pala period (roughly the eighth through twelfth centuries), tantrism, or, more correctly, Vajrayana Buddhism, was prevalent in the great Buddhist institutions of Bihar and Bengal. Moving away from its more transgressive practices, tantrism was adopted by the Buddhist monastic community primarily as a meditative or yogic practice. From there, it was spread by religious scholars and teachers throughout the Himalayas, particularly in Nepal and Tibet.
As one of the few countries where communities of Buddhists and Hindus have lived alongside one another for millennia, Nepal is syncretic culturally, religiously and artistically. Often, Hindus will venerate Buddhist icons or celebrate Buddhist ceremonies, and vice versa. The close connection between these two communities, and the stylistic and iconographic intermingling of their art can sometimes make it difficult to assertively identify an individual deity unless there exists a textual source describing its iconography (much work in this regard has been done in recent years using Nepalese iconographic manuals, such the Thyasapu manuscript offered as lot 14 in the online component of this collection). While the exact identity of the present figure, and by extension even whether it is Hindu or Buddhist, is unknown, that it is a tantric deity is unquestionable. The presence of multiple arms, all holding various weapons or implements, is an indication of the multivalent powers and abilities of the deity, powers which could be achieved through tantric worship. The figure and its consort are seated in sexual embrace on the prone figure of a corpse; although this physical union references the transgressive sexual practices of the earliest forms of tantrism, by the time this figure was cast, it was understood to be symbolic rather than literal, representing the union of their two harmonious, yet separate, forces.
As one of the few countries where communities of Buddhists and Hindus have lived alongside one another for millennia, Nepal is syncretic culturally, religiously and artistically. Often, Hindus will venerate Buddhist icons or celebrate Buddhist ceremonies, and vice versa. The close connection between these two communities, and the stylistic and iconographic intermingling of their art can sometimes make it difficult to assertively identify an individual deity unless there exists a textual source describing its iconography (much work in this regard has been done in recent years using Nepalese iconographic manuals, such the Thyasapu manuscript offered as lot 14 in the online component of this collection). While the exact identity of the present figure, and by extension even whether it is Hindu or Buddhist, is unknown, that it is a tantric deity is unquestionable. The presence of multiple arms, all holding various weapons or implements, is an indication of the multivalent powers and abilities of the deity, powers which could be achieved through tantric worship. The figure and its consort are seated in sexual embrace on the prone figure of a corpse; although this physical union references the transgressive sexual practices of the earliest forms of tantrism, by the time this figure was cast, it was understood to be symbolic rather than literal, representing the union of their two harmonious, yet separate, forces.