A GILT COPPER ALLOY FIGURE OF VAJRAVARAHI

TIBET, 14TH CENTURY

Footnotes

With great poise, this miniature dancing goddess raises a ritual knife above her head while balancing effortlessly on her left tiptoes. The diminutive sow's head tucked behind her right ear identifies her as the wrathful goddess Vajravarahi. She is the consort of the great transformational deity Samvara, and worshipped in her own right of as a protector of esoteric practices. She is also the only goddess in Tibet to reincarnate on earth, serving as the abbot of Samding monastery, near Lhasa. A similar example is published in Rossi & Rossi, Images of Faith, London 2008, no.6, that has been attributed to the Yuan dynasty later by Bigler in Before Yongle, Zurich, 2015, pp.114-5, no.27.

Provenance
Christie's, New York, 20 March 2009, lot 1372
Private Collection, London
Private Collection, California


銅鎏金金剛亥母像
西藏，十四世紀
喜馬拉雅藝術資源網2142號
高 9.5 釐米 （3 3/4 英寸）

250,000-300,000 港元

此尊小型造像刻畫佛母泰然起舞之形像，她一手將法刀舉至頭頂，同時以左腳尖輕松保持平衡。其頂上小型豬首攏至右耳後方，可確認其為忿怒女神金剛亥母。金剛亥母是偉大轉化神勝樂金剛的明妃，亦作為秘傳修行護法單獨崇拜。她也是西藏唯一一位在人間輪回轉世的佛母，在拉薩附近的桑丁寺擔任主持。與此相似的作品可見於 Rossi & Rossi 編著的Images of Faith，倫敦，2008 年，6 號；其之後被斷代為元朝，參見 Bigler 編著的Before Yongle，蘇黎世，2015 年，頁114-115，27 號。

來源
佳士得紐約，2009 年 3 月 20 日，拍品1372號
倫敦私人收藏
加利福尼亞州私人收藏