A PARCEL-GILT-SILVER FIGURE OF A DAKINI

The present figure, despite its small size, is finely cast in silver, with crisp details in the garland of skulls, jewelry, facial features, and the hair and crown. Certain details, such as the beaded jewelry, implements, crown, and the billowing sash are gilded, resulting in an exquisite contrasting effect, amplified by the inclusion of semi-precious stones.

Stylistically, the present figure can be compared with a gilt-silver figure of Vajrapani, formerly in the Pan-Asian Collection, and first illustrated by Pratapaditya Pal in The Sensuous Immortals, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1977, p. 187, no. 113; both figures are cast in silver, but are gilded on the jewelry, crown, and drapery. The sharply incised facial features of both figures, with furrowed brows and nose and agape mouth, are also remarkably similar. Without their bases, the two figures are also approximately the same size. The Pan-Asian example retains a compressed double-lotus base consistent with fifteenth-sixteenth century Tibetan sculpture. The rich gilding, flame motif in the aureole, and trampled figures, suggest the base may be later associated.

Himalayan Art Resources (himalayanart.org), item no. 24504.