119. A GILT-BRONZE GROUP OF VAJRABHAIRAVA AND VAJRAVETALI 18th/19th century Himalayan Art Resources item no. 2861 23 cm (9 in.) high (2). Provenance: An important European Collection. Acquired from Koller, Zürich, by the father of the present owners (by repute), thence in the family by descent. Powerfully modeled, this sculpture depicts Yamantaka Vajrabhairava, the wrathful manifestation of Manjushri, or the Bodhisattva of Discriminating Wisdom, in ecstatic union with his consort Vajravetali. Vajrabhairava lunging in a warrior's pose while in interpenetrative congress with his consort, Vajravetali. Thirty-four of Vajrabhairava's arms encircle him and his partner, brandishing ritual weapons and attributes that symbolise his skillful means. His central face—that of a ferocious bull—signifies his subjugation of Yama, the Lord of Death, and his triumph over the cycle of birth, death, and rebirth. Vajrabhairava and his consort are clad in matching jeweled aprons and garlands of skulls and freshly severed heads. Vajravetali follows her consort's stance, wrapping her left leg around his waist and grasping onto him with her head thrown back, her fiery hair flowing down to her waist. Vajrabhairava, the destroyer of ignorance and fear of death, is one of the principal yidams of the Geluk sect, the Tibetan Buddhist order founded by Tsongkhapa (1357-1419) that enjoyed increased importance amongst the emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties. From the mid-seventeenth century onwards, the sect and its lineage became the dominant theocratic power in Tibet through the Dalai Lama, and the sole sect represented Tibetan Buddhist lineage at the Qing imperial court. Closely related examples, are in the collection of the Rehol Monastery, Chengde, and in the Qing Palace Museum Collection, see, for instance, Buddhist Art from Rehol, Taipei, 1999, p.97, no.29, and Wang (ed.), Zangchuan Fojiao Zaoxiang, Hong Kong, 1992, p.92, no.64, and a figure sold in Bonhams, New York, 23 September 2020, lot 634.