158. BÂTON RITUEL EN ACIER DAMASQUINÉ OR TIBET ORIENTAL, DERGÉ, VERS XVIE SIÈCLE Himalayan Art Resources item no. 205003 76 cm (29 7/8 in.) high A GOLD DAMASCENED STEEL RITUAL SKULL CLUB EASTERN TIBET, DERGE, CIRCA 16TH CENTURY 藏東 更慶鎮 約十六世紀 鋼鋄金骷髏天杖 The long steel shaft is wrapped in golden snakes around a central knot with a dried skull at the top and a vajra terminal at the bottom. As noted by Beer (Encyclopedia of Tibetan Symbols and Motifs, 2004, p. 140, "The skull club is a right-hand method weapon of many deities, and symbolizes the cessation or 'death' of karmic predispositions and the ultimate emptiness of all phenomena. As a weapon it terrifies all demons and subjugates all the vicious spirits of the three realms". The skull club is a modification of a khatvanga, see lot 127 and also compare with a related example in the JPHY Collection (Henss, Buddhist Ritual Art of Tibet, 2020, p. 198, fig. 236) and another in Bazin, Rituels Tibetains, 2002, no. 99. Published: Ramon Prats, et.al., Monasterios y lamas del Tibet, Madrid, Fundación "La Caixa", 2000, p. 122, no. 68. Exhibited: Monasterios y lamas del Tibet, Fundación "La Caixa", Madrid, November 2000-January 2001. Provenance: Art Market, 1970s