A turquoise-inlaid gilt-copper alloy figure of Guhyasamaja, Tibet, 15th century

Belgian Private Collection, acquired in the 1980s.

The gilt-copper sculpture depicts the union of the male and female aspects of the meditation deity Guhyasamaja. Both figures have three heads and six arms, with each aspect holding the same attributes of vajra and ghanta, a dharmachakra wheel, a flaming sword, a flaming jewel and a lotus flower. The sculpture represents a significant style group of Tibetan gilt-bronzes that developed in the fifteenth century, with intricate and slender modeling compared to the more robust sculpture of the fourteenth century, and often inset solely with turquoise to the exclusion of other stones. The style was espoused by the artist Sonam Gyaltsen who was active in the first half of the century: compare a standing Avalokiteshvara by the artist, see Jeff Watt, https://www.himalayanart.org/items/61516. The trefoil shape of the petals on the elegant lotus pedestal is a rare variant of the more common rounded petal of the period, cf. the petal style and the similar floral meander engraved around the lower rim of the pedestal of a gilt-bronze Chakrasamvara attributed to the school of Sonam Gyaltsen, ibid., https://www.himalayanart.org/items/2134.