A polychrome copper alloy and copper-repousse figure of Vajrabhairava, Tibet, 17th century

Sotheby's Paris, 12th December 2017, lot 13.

This complex and powerfully-modelled sculpture depicts Yamantaka Vajrabhairava, the wrathful manifestation of Manjushri, the bodhisattva of Discriminating Wisdom. The large and ferocious buffalo head of Vajrabhairava with towering, fiery tresses coiled into thick ropes dominate the sculpture and commands the focal point. Yamantaka Vajrabhairava is one of the most formidable deities in the Tibetan Buddhist pantheon, the fearsome manifestation of the bodhisattva Manjushri, lord of transcendent wisdom.

He grasps a panoply of solidly cast ritual weapons and implements, including a kartrika or chopper in the primary right hand and a kapala filled with amrita in the primary left hand. The myriad arms and heads and trampling legs symbolise the deity’s total mastery over all elements that bind sentient beings to the wheel of existence, the constant cycle of birth and death, passions, desires and fears.

The bull's head signifies Vajrabhairava's conquest of the buffalo-headed god, Yama, the lord of death in ancient Indian mythology, thus eliminating the obstacle of death (Sanskrit: yama-antaka) through the enlightened Buddhist state of transcendent wisdom.