佛像鉴定鉴赏收藏

尺寸：高17.4cm
年代：16世纪
质地：铜鎏金
风格：尼泊尔
来源：拍卖会
成交：300,000港元(2018.10)
参阅：香港邦瀚斯
鉴赏：
A GILT COPPER FIGURE OF VAJRAVARAHI
NEPAL, 16TH CENTURY
Himalayan Art Resources item no.61659
古比特佛像网 编号 金刚亥母:金刚亥母030
尼泊爾 十六世紀 銅鎏金金剛亥母像

One of the most popular female yidam found in all schools of Tibetan Buddhism, Vajravarahi is a form of Vajrayogini, the principal female deity of the Chakrasamvara Cycle of Tantras. She is the consort of the great transformative deity Samvara, and is also worshiped in her own right as a protector of the tantra's potent secrets. She is also the only female deity in Tibet to reincarnate on earth, serving as the abbot of Samding monastery, near Lhasa.

The present bronze depicts a popular representation of Vajravarahi, with a sow's (varahi) head projecting from the right side of her face. Cast with a robust and shapely body, Vajravarahi centers her weight effortlessly on flexed toes, achieving an accomplished dancer's pose. She holds a kartrika knife in her raised right hand, and a skull cup in her left, while wearing a garland of freshly severed heads. The bronze triumphs in Vajravarahi's balance of ferocity and elegance.

Evident in her sensuous body, her facial type, and jewelry, this work was done by the hand of a Newari master. The bronze compares favourably to a Nepalese gilt bronze figure of Vajravarahi in the British Museum, published in von Schroeder, Indo-Tibetan Bronzes, Hong Kong, 1981, pp.378-9, no.101C.

Provenance
Oriental Antiquities, London, 1969