Footnotes

A GILT COPPER ALLOY FIGURE OF PANJARANATA MAHAKALA
TIBET, 14TH CENTURY

西藏 十四世紀 銅鎏金寶帳大黑天像

Provenance:
With Claude de Marteau, Brussels, by 1970s

Panjaranata Mahakala, the ''Lord of the Pavilion'', is the guardian of the Hevajra Tantra. He is also the principal protector deity of the Sakya order of Tibetan Buddhism. He is portrayed here as a formidable opponent to any negative force, with a ferocious expression, stout proportions, and a strongly rooted stance. As he firmly squats over a prone figure representing human ignorance, the overall triangular silhouette of the sculpture adds to the impression of the guardian's insurmountable power.

A 14th-century Sakya thangka of the same deity in the Rubin Museum of Art, New York (HAR 642), provides an excellent stylistic point of comparison for the present sculpture. Both depict Panjaranata Mahakala with an oblong potbelly and join a minority of representations that refrain from tilting the deity's head dramatically to one side. In both images, the deity displays a resolutely fierce expression, while reining in his bun of fiery hair behind his crown. The end of his scarf flailing about his legs terminates in a distinctive lotus bud on either side, rather than the more widespread V-shaped 'fishtail' design. Furthermore, the comparatively restrained ornamentation seems to predate Central Tibetan art of the 15th century, in which deities are adorned with sumptuous garments and silks inspired by early Ming imperial gifts. A 15th-century Sakya thangka in the Shelley and Donald Rubin Foundation (HAR 135) provides a good contrast by illustrating alternatives to these earlier stylistic features.