
Jing Wen
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Global Head of Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art

International Director

International Specialist

Head of Sale, Specialist
A SILVER AND PARCEL GILT COPPER ALLOY FIGURE OF VAJRAVARAHI
NORTHEASTERN INDIA, PALA PERIOD, CIRCA 11TH CENTURY
印度東北部 帕拉時期 約十一世紀 銀及局部銅鎏金金剛亥母像
This intimate casting of Vajravarahi, the Diamond Sow, can be identified by the boar's head protruding from the right side of her face. The staff nestled in the crook of her left arm stands in as a representation of her male consort, Samvara, the tutelary deity emerging from the Chakrasamvara cycle of Tantras. Depicted here as a solitary figure, Vajravarahi embodies the nondual and supremely enlightened form that yogic teachers strive to manifest within themselves.
Although small in scale, the bronze's crisp modelling, replete with silver-inlaid jewelry and gilded features, are elements consistent with high quality images produced during the Pala period. For example, see two northeast Indian bronzes in the Tsuglakang Temple, Lhasa (published in von Schroeder, Buddhist Sculptures in Tibet, Vol. 1, 2001, pp. 286 & 294-5, nos. 94B & 98C-D; HAR 57141 & 57146).
Provenance:
Ashencaen and Leonov, London, 2000s