Statuette of Vajravarahi in gilded copper alloy Nepal, 16th century
A GILT-COPPER ALLOY FIGURE DEPICTING VAJRAVARAHI, NEPAL, 17TH CENTURY
the divinity with a sow emerging behind her right ear, in Ardhaparyankasana stomping a demon on a perforated round Lotiform pedestal, the left hand holding a kapala in front of her breast and waving in her right hand a Kartrika, wearing a garland of cut heads, her face angry with three eyes, the haloed head of an openwork mandrel, dressed in rich jewels, unsealed (2)
19.8 cm, 7 3/4 in.
Details
- Title : Statuette of Vajravarahi in Gilded Copper Alloy Nepal
- Year : 16th century
- Classification : Sculpture
- Medium : Gilded Copper Alloy
- Accession No : LO 59
- Country/ Geo-location : Nepal
- Collection : Sotheby’s
- Status : SOLD ON 11 JUNE 2019 | 10:30 AM CEST
- ESTIMATE : 12,000 — 15,000 EUR
- LOT SOLD : 20,000 EUR
- CATALOGUE NOTE : Vajravarahi who can be identified with the single boar's head behind her right ear, represents a form of Vajrayogini, the principal deity of the Chakrasamvara cycle of Tantras. Vajrayogini appearing in the form of Vajravarahi is considered the most popular female Tantric deities found in all schools of Tibetan Buddhism. Being worshipped as the protector of the Tantra's secrets, she is also the consort of the great transformative deity Samvara. Vajravarahi is also the only female deity in Tibet to appear in a reincarnation on earth where she served as the abbot of Samding monastery near Lhasa. Compare with another gilt-copper figure of Vajravarahi of slightly smaller size in the British Museum, published in Ulrich von Schroeder, Indo-Tibetan Bronzes, Hong Kong, 1981, pp. 378-9, fig. 101C.