ÉPÉE RITUELLE EN BOIS LAQUÉ D'OR AVEC INSCRIPTION

TIBET, XVIIIE/XIXE SIÈCLE

Footnotes

AN INSCRIBED GILT LACQUERED WOOD RITUAL SWORD
TIBET, 18TH/19TH CENTURY

西藏 十八/十九世紀 漆金木劍

The tapered blade, emerging from the mouth of a makara guard and vajra handle, is inscribed with golden mantras on both sides below a flaming tip. In a similar function to wisdom swords forged from metal, swords carved from wood were designed to medically counteract the poisons, both of a physical and metaphysical nature, that afflicted the body and mind of a Buddhist practitioner.

For a closely related example paired with shield, also made of wood, in the Bodhimanda Foundation (see Henss, Buddhist Ritual Art of Tibet, Stuttgart, 2020, p. 216, no. 271.)

Published:
Ramon Prats, et.al., Monasterios y lamas del Tibet, Madrid, Fundación "La Caixa", 2000, p.101, no.14.
Natalie Bazin, Rituels tibétains: Visions secrètes du Vème Dalaï Lama, Paris, 2002, p.147, no.107.

Exhibited:
Rituels tibétains: Visions secrètes du Vème Dalaï Lama, Musée Guimet, Paris, 6 November 2002 - 24 February 2003.
Monasterios y lamas del Tibet, Fundación "La Caixa", Madrid, November 2000-January 2001.

Provenance:
Spink & Son Ltd., London, 1990s