NEPAL, 17TH CENTURY

This gilt-bronze figure of a wrathful protector from the Guhyasamaja Mandala stands unaccompanied in pratyalidhasana on an elliptical lotus base with each hand holding a tantric implement. The bow and arrow indicate that this deity is of the Guhyasamaja Manjuvajra retinue. The high-copper content of this metal alloy and the narrow, teardrop shape of the lotus petals that surround the base are telling of its Nepalese origin, as is the style of the diadem with smiling skulls supporting simple floral crests. The pair of small flags above the figure's temples known to Newars as dhoja (Skt. dhvaja), which are likely a seventeenth-century development, indicate the period of origin (G. Vajracharya, Nepalese Seasons: Rain and Ritual, New York, 2016, p. 26).