TIBET, 15TH CENTURY

The present object is one that is rendered in many Tibetan paintings wherein it is typically wielded by wrathful deities in the crook of the left arm, meant to take the place of the wrathful deity’s consort and to symbolize the union of wisdom and emptiness. The main elements are two crossed vajra, a vase, two severed heads, and a skull, upon which a half-vajra sits, intended to represent the violent destruction of the three root poisons (ignorance, attachment, and anger) along with the antidote of amrita pouring out of the vase. The present example is of the highest quality—with perfectly cast elements atop a fragment of the staff which was covered in a fastidiously applied spiral pattern along the entire length. The present work, in full form, would have resembled very closely the early 15th century khatvanga published by. R. Bigler in Art and Faith at the Crossroads, Zurich, 2013, p. 120, cat. 47.