A lacquer-gilt bronze of Weituo

Description:

China, 17th/18th cent.
H. 30,3 cm
Standing figure of the temple guardian Weituo (Skanda, 韋馱/Weituo Pusa) as a youthful general dressed in a robe. The god stands frontally on a stylised rock, his left hand holding his sword in front of his stomach. The helmet has a high, three-pronged crest with falling spikes running down the sides. Generously preserved lacquer gilding.
European private collection
Iconographically Weituo, a protector of the doctrine and the monastery, who are regularly depicted in China as a young, straight general with staff or sword - Wear and slightly chipped, traces of age