A fine gilt-bronze figure of Vajrabhairava

Description:

Tibeto-Chinese, late 18th cent.
H. 24,5 cm
Standing with his multiple legs in pratyalidhasana on two groups of separate cast figures and animals reclining on a lotus base, his principle arms embracing his prajna, the hands holding karttrika and kapala, the other arms radiating around his body with the hands holding the prescribed attributes and gestures, naked apart from garlands consisting of severed heads and skulls, elephant-skin draped over his shoulders, bejewelled, his multiple-head with central bull face displaying a ferocious expression with bulging eyes below bushy eyebrows, open snout showing teeth and fangs, pair of curved horns and pricked ears, flaming hairdo, his consort holding the karttrika and kapala and displaying as well a ferocious facial expression, resealed.
From an important South German private collection, acquired in the Munich art trade
Vajrabhairava is the terrifying, buffalo-headed form of the Bodhisattva Manjushri, whose head appears at the top of the head pyramid. The many arms emphasise his great power. He defeats Yama, the lord of death. Alongside Chakrasamvara and Guhyasamaja, he is the most important meditation deity of the Gelugpa (the "virtue tradition"), the school of the Dalai Lama - Very slightly chipped, few attributes lost