A five-pointed vajra diamond scepter, the central section with lotus friezes centered by a rounded knob, symbolising emptiness, flanked by frieze of pearls between plain bands, surrounded by a eight-petalled lotus at either side, the fout outer curved prongs emerging from makara heads, and at either end joining the central shaft with their tips. The thunderbolt (skrt. vajra, Tibet. dorje) is a historical development of the lightning sceptre of the Vedic rain and thunderstorm god Indra, who is considered the king of the gods in the Vedic scriptures. In Vajrayana and Lamaism, it symbolises the diamond nature and thus the emptiness in the existent, the indestructible and eternal absolute. It also stands for the male principle, while the bell (skrt. ghanta) as its antithesis stands for the female principle. The vajra symbolises the inseparability of emptiness and form and is the attribute in all representations of deities and the main symbol of the Vajrayana (diamond vehicle). A vajra is represented with three, five or nine spokes. The five- or nine-spoked versions are the most common in the Tantric Buddhist traditions. The nine-spoked vajra symbolises the five Buddhas of the five directions, as well as their consorts. While it is a sceptre with peaceful deities and an indestructible weapon with wrathful deities. Dimensions Length 13.1 cm Literature Compare a very similar vajra, illustrated in: Musée national des Arts asiatiques-Guimet (ed.), Rituels tibétains. Visions secrètes du Ve Dalai Lama, exhibition catalogue, Paris 2002, p. 137f, fig. 90 (here dated 17th century) and Robert R. Bigler, Art and faith at the crossroads, Zurich 2013, no. 39 (here dated second quarter of the 15th century), stylistically this vajra can be compared with an example of the same type, now in Palace Museum (ed.), Cultural Relics of Tibetan Buddhism Collected in the Qing Palace, Hong Kong 1992, p. 175-176, no. 131-132 and p. 242-243, Provenance Private collection, Hesse, assembled since the 1970s Notes VAT: Margin scheme