Footnotes

A STEEL AND PARCEL GILT SILVER-REPOUSSÉ ORACLE MIRROR
TIBET, 18TH/19TH CENTURY

西藏 十八/十九世紀 鋼及局部銀鎏金錘揲護法鏡

Oracle mirrors such as the one presented here are used for divination rituals, meant to recognize ultimate truth and portend of future events. The actual rituals and the associated iconography still remain rather vague, though it seems it originates from early indigenous Central Asian practices which became popular during the 17th century under the government supported cult of the Nechung State Oracle.

Consisting of silver and gilt repoussé, the mirror here is adorned with two severed skulls and two severed heads each separated by ritual weapons including the danda, the battle axe, the flaming sword, and noose. The top presents a six-jeweled cintamani flanked by a lotus and skull-cup. The bottom shows an offering of a kapala holding the five sense organs (eyes, ears, nose, tongue, heart) surrounded on either side by kapalas each on three-sided bases. Depicting the two skulls and two severed motifs along a repoussé border is another oracle mirror (see HAR 34370).

Published:
Deborah Ashencaen and Gennady Leonov, Mirror of Mind: Art of Vajrayana Buddhism, Spink & Sons Ltd., London, 1995, front cover, no. 1.
Ramon Prats, et.al., Monasterios y lamas del Tibet, Madrid, Fundación "La Caixa", 2000, p. 111, no. 37.
Published:
Michael Henss, Buddhist Ritual Art of Tibet: A Handbook on Ceremonial Objects and Ritual Furnishings in the Tibetan Temple, Stuttgart, 2020, p. 231, no. 290.

Exhibited:
Monasterios y lamas del Tibet, Fundación "La Caixa", Madrid, November 2000-January 2001.
Remember That You Will Die, Rubin Museum of Art, New York, 19 March - 9 August, 2010.

Provenance:
Spink & Sons Ltd., London, 1995