A fine gilt-bronze figure of Vajradhara

18th century

18th century
Cast with a benign face under a five-leaf tiara encircling a high chignon, the deity dressed in dhoti and adorned with elaborate jewellery hanging over the bare chest, the arms raised and crossed holding a vajra and a ghanta, seated cross-legged in dhyanasana on a double-lotus pedestal 15.8cm (6 1/4in) high

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Provenance: Koller, Zurich, 18 September 2010, lot 126
A distinguished European private collection

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The primordial Buddha Vajradhara is the root-deity of many Tantric Buddhist teachings, personification of the dharmakaya, truth body of enlightenment and progenitor of the Vajrayana system of Buddhism. According to beliefs generated within the New (Sarma) Schools, Vajradhara is the 'Secret and Inner' form of Shakyamuni Buddha and embodies the combined essence of all the Buddhas of the Ten Directions and the 'Three Periods of Time'. A similar gilt-bronze figure of Vajradhara, 17th century, in the collection of the Guimet Museum, Paris, is illustrated in illustrated in Himalayan Art Resources, item no.85940.