A GILT-BRONZE FIGURE OF HEVAJRA

Description:

Tibeto-Chinese, late 15th cent.
H. 11 cm
Standing in alidhasana on a pair of deities reclining on the lotus base, his principle arms embracing his consort, the other arms radiating around his body, the hands holding each a kapala supporting deities or animals, wearing bone-skirt, scarf floating around his shoulders, his multiple-faced head displaying various expressions and a flaming hairdo secured with tiaras, unsealed.
European private collection
The bronze figure of Hevajra, created in the 15th century within the Tibeto-Chinese cultural sphere, embodies one of the central principles of Esoteric Buddhism: the union of wisdom and compassion, emptiness and form, the male and the female principle. It stands at the intersection of art, ritual, and philosophy, reflecting the synthesis of Tibetan Vajrayana mysticism with Chinese craftsmanship of the late Yuan and early Ming periods. Hevajra, one of the principal deities of the Anuttarayoga Tantra, appears here as an eight-headed, sixteen-armed, and four-legged manifestation of the Buddha. In a dynamic dance, he embraces his consort Nairatmya (“the Selfless One”), who personifies the realization of emptiness (śūnyatā). Their union, known as Yab-Yum (“Father-Mother”), symbolizes the non-dual unity of method (upāya) and wisdom (prajñā). Each of Hevajra’s hands holds a ritual object: skull cups (kapāla) filled with symbolic substances-ranging from the blood of desire to the nectar of liberation-as well as vajras, bells (ghaṇṭa), and other emblems of tantric power. The eight wrathful and ecstatic faces look in all directions, expressing all-encompassing awareness and the transcendence of the illusory multiplicity of the world - Minor wear, slightly chipped