Mark Rasmussen
International Director
Lot 23
A gilt copper alloy figure of Yama Dhamaraja and Chamundi Tibet, 17th/18th century
18 September 2013, 10:00 EDT
New YorkSold for US$242,500 inc. premium
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A gilt copper alloy figure of Yama Dhamaraja and Chamundi
Tibet, 17th/18th century
The Lord of Death astride the buffalo bedecked with beaded swags and crushing the prostrate body with blissful expression below, his right arm raised holding the skull club, his left displaying vitarka mudra, adorned with a snake draped over his shoulders, a garland of freshly severed heads, and festoons interlinked through central cakras, his bull's head ablaze with bulging eyes and a vajra nestled in his flame-like hair, his consort, Chamundi, rising up his left flank wearing an antelope skin and fierce expression, offering the nectared skull cup to his outstretched tongue.
7 1/2 in. (19 cm) high
The Lord of Death astride the buffalo bedecked with beaded swags and crushing the prostrate body with blissful expression below, his right arm raised holding the skull club, his left displaying vitarka mudra, adorned with a snake draped over his shoulders, a garland of freshly severed heads, and festoons interlinked through central cakras, his bull's head ablaze with bulging eyes and a vajra nestled in his flame-like hair, his consort, Chamundi, rising up his left flank wearing an antelope skin and fierce expression, offering the nectared skull cup to his outstretched tongue.
7 1/2 in. (19 cm) high
Footnotes
This superb casting is distinguished by the naturalistic treatment of the buffalo and bull's head and powerful proportions of their bodies. Similar features can be found in a solitary Yama Dhamaraja in the Rubin Collection, see Rob Linrothe and Jeff Watt, Demonic Divine, New York, 2004, p. 177, no. 34.
Also see Pal, The Art of Tibet, New York, 1969, p.102, pl.72, von Schroeder, Indo-Tibetan Bronzes, Hong Kong 1981, pp.550-551, pl.157E and Art Lamaique, Bruxelles, 1975, pl.87. Also compare with a Christie's, Paris, December 7, 2007, lot 368. An earlier Tibetan example from the 14th/15th century is illustrated in Buddhist Statues Tibet, Hong Kong 2003, pp.152-153, pl.146.
Provenance:
Private Northern Californian Collection
Acquired in the 1960s