A rare large inscribed copper-alloy figure of Chakrasamvara and Vajravarahi, Vietnam, dated 1914 by inscription | 越南 1914年 銅合金勝樂金剛與金剛亥母雙修像《河內省石川鑄銅洋行作 維新捌年》銘款

A rare large inscribed copper-alloy figure of Chakrasamvara and Vajravarahi
Vietnam, dated 1914 by inscription

the base inscribed with a fourteen-character mark, reading “produced by the foreign factory/company of bronze casting in the ‘Shi chuan’ (sic.) of Hanoi province, on the eighth year of Duy Tân" [in accordance to 1914]
Height 44.4 cm, 17½ in.
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Statue de Chakrasamvara and Vajravarahi en alliage de cuivre inscrite, Vietnam, daté 1914 par l'inscription
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越南 1914年 銅合金勝樂金剛與金剛亥母雙修像《河內省石川鑄銅洋行作 維新捌年》銘款

Condition Report:
Some light surface overall, minor nicks and short cracks to the extremities and some very minor losses to the inlays. The base is open.

通體有少許輕微磨損，邊角有少許極度輕微細磕及細裂，鑲嵌有少許小缺失。無封底。

Catalogue Note:
The Vietnamese inscription dates the sculpture to 1914 when there was evidently a local movement casting Vajrayana Buddhist bronzes with painted details in the Tibeto-Chinese Qing period style. Other, un-inscribed and perhaps misidentified examples in this local Vietnamese style may include bronzes such as a Vajrabhairava formerly in the Pan-Asian Collection, see Pratapaditya Pal, The Sensuous Immortals, Los Angeles, 1977, cat. no. 111b, and a bodhisattva in the Museum voor Volkenkunde Rotterdam, see Hugo Kreijger, Godenbeelden uit Tibet, Den Haag, 1989, p. 40, fig. 20.