A COPPER ALLOY FIGURE OF NARO DAKINI


TIBET, CIRCA 12TH CENTURYHimalayan Art Resources item no.61937 6 in. (15.2 cm) high
|西藏 約十二世紀 那若空行母銅像 Striding on a prone figure with her head and skullcup raised to the sky, this expressive sculpture depicts Naro Dakini, a form of Vajrayogini as she appeared to Mahasiddha Naropa. Naropa is a root Indian guru of the Sakya school of Tibetan Buddhism. Except for her jewelry and garland of freshly severed heads, Naro Dakini is naked. Her wrathful face – with three large eyes, flaming brows, and bared fangs – further intensifies her visual impact. Triumphant and turned towards the heavens, such figures of Naro Dakini are among Tibetan art's most heroic portrayals of the feminine divine. For a stylistic comparison, see the treatment of this sculpture's youthful figure, winding beaded necklace, and looped girdle on a c.12th-century Pala bronze of Vajravarahi published in von Schroeder, Buddhist Sculptures in Tibet, Hong Kong, 2001, p.286, no.94A. Also, the formation of her prominent garland, with severed heads tied by their hair, is similar to that of another Pala style Vajravarahi (ibid., p.1109, no.289B). Lastly, compare a closely related bronze image of Naro Dakini in the Potala Palace, captured in a 1991 photograph of Lima Lhakhang (ibid., p.227; second row from the bottom, first on the left). Provenance Alice and Nasli Heeramaneck Collection Sotheby's, London, 7 July 1986, lot 110