A SILVER FIGURE OF CHATURBHUJA MAHAKALA TIBET, CIRCA 16TH CENTURY

seated with the right foot entended, the primary right hand holding a kartrika or hooked knife, the primary left hand holding a kapala filled with amrita, holding a flaming khadga or sword in the secondary right hand and a khatvanga or staff in the secondary left hand, the rotund body with a tiger skin wrapped round the waist and adorned with beaded necklaces and a garland of severed heads, encircled by a cobra, the wrathful expression with three glaring eyes and a gaping mouth, framed by upward-flowing tresses behind an elaborate headdress and serpentine earrings

Himalayan Art Resources item no. 68324

Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, 1998-2005, on loan.
The Sculptural Heritage of Tibet: Buddhist Art in the Nyingjei Lam Collection, Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, October-December 1999.
Arte Buddhista Tibetana: Dei e Demoni dell' Himalaya, Palazzo Bricherasio, Turin, June-September 2004.
Rubin Museum of Art, New York, 2005-2017, on loan.
Casting the Divine: Sculptures of the Nyingjei Lam Collection, Rubin Museum of Art, New York, 2012-2013.

There are minor bruises to the extremities, and other general surface wear. the sword is very slightly dented. Otherwise good condition.
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The dharmapala and yidam Mahakala manifests in dozens of forms. The current manifestion of Chaturbhuja Mahakala, a protector of the Chakrasamvara Tantra, is depicted with the primary hands holding a kartrika and kapala filled with amrita; the secondary hands holding a flaming khadga and khatvanga.  

This diminutive figure of Chaturbhuja Mahakala is exceptional in its fine silver casting and exacting detail. The four-armed wrathful deity retains traces of cold gold and polychromy to the face and head, accentuating his flaming hair, eyebrows and beard; three bloodshot eyes; gaping mouth and fearsome fangs. The wild hair is closely cropped and layered, rather than the upward-flowing fiery locks typically associated with Mahakala. Terrifying cobras incised with crosshatching, heads cocked and mouths agape, encircle Mahakala's earrings, torso, sword hilt, wrists and ankles. The wonderfully articulated feet and toes twist and writhe with kinetic energy. 

Mahakala wears the six bone ornaments and an animal skin wrapped around his thick waist. Compare the pinwheel pattern on the dhoti of Mahakala with a similar pinwheel pattern on a thirteenth/fourteenth century bronze figure of Achala, see lot 3104; and also on an early thirteenth century kesi depicting Achala in the Potala Palace, see Valrae Reynolds, et al., On the Path to the Void: Buddhist Art in the Tibetan Realm, Mumbai, 1996, pp. 252-253, fig. 8.