STATUETTE DE PANJARANATA MAHAKALA EN ALLIAGE DE CUIVRE DORÉ TIBET, XIVE SIÈCLE Himalayan Art Resources item no. 4605 16 cm (6 1/4 in.) high Footnotes: A GILT COPPER ALLOY FIGURE OF PANJARANATA MAHAKALA TIBET, 14TH CENTURY 西藏 十四世紀 銅鎏金寶帳大黑天像 Provenance: With Claude de Marteau, Brussels, by 1970s Holding a flaying knife, skull cup, and club used to annihilate karmic defilements, Panjaranata Mahakala is the fierce guardian of the Hevajra Tantra and the chief protector of the Sakya school of Tibetan Buddhism. Despite his violent iconography, the artist refrains from depicting Panjaranata Mahakala with gruesome features, instead casting an approachable dwarf-like figure with a handsome face and a subdued grimace, understanding the deity's formidable, but ultimately protective, demeanor. Such an exceptional gilded bronze would have required an experienced and dexterous hand, evinced by Mahakala's stocky yet balanced proportions, the snakes coiled around his earrings, the irregular rippling of his scarf, and a corpse whose hair hangs over the side. Moreover, the thickly-beaded lower rim of Mahakala's lotus base is a distinct feature of Pala-period bronzes, comparable to several examples published in von Schroeder, Indo-Tibetan Bronzes, Hong Kong, 1981, pp. 290-1, nos. 73A, B, G, & H). This familiarity with Northeast Indian decoration, combined with the chased striped fur of Mahakala's tiger pelt, suggests that this image was created by a Nepalese artist on behalf of a Tibetan patron during the 14th century. Compare with an image of Takkiraja, whose apron and scarf ends are subtly decorated with small chased lines, published in Grewenig & Rist, Buddha: 2000 Years of Buddhist Art, 2016, p. 396, no. 171. And more importantly, compare the similar jolly countenance and swirling striped pattern of a tiger skin worn by a 14th-century Panjaranata in parcel-gilt, published in Rhie, Wisdom and Compassion, 2000, p. 444, no. 198 (67C). The focus of a state cult as the Mongol Empire's tutelary deity, Mahakala was credited with their defeat of the Southern Song dynasty (1127–79), solidifying Khubilai Khan's legitimacy as the first emperor of the Yuan dynasty (1271–1368). Images like the present lot, which were likely made at the height of Sakya authority in Tibet, later informed the art of the early Ming dynasty, whose emperors sought to harness this esoteric power for themselves. For example, compare the present lot's densely-packed lotus petal base to a gilt-bronze from the Yongle period (1403–24), published in von Schroeder, Buddhist Sculptures in Tibet, Vol. 2, Hong Kong, 2001, p. 1239, nos. 348A-B. For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com