A carved black stone figure of Guru Dragpur, Tibet, 18th century

Sotheby's New York, 17th March 2015, lot 1044.

The stone sculpture depicts Guru Dragpur, a wrathful Tibetan Buddhist meditational deity, uncovered as a Revealed Treasure (gter ma) by Drugchen Padma Karpo (1527-1592) of the Drugpa Kagyu school. This deity is a ferocious form of Guru Padmasambhava, specifically a variation of the form known as Guru Dragpo, one of the early manifestations revealed by the Nyingma teacher Nyangral Nyima Ozer (1124/36-1192/1204). The upper body is red, with an elephant hide draped over his shoulders and a tiger skin around his waist. In the right hand, is a golden five-pronged vajra, while the left hand, pointed downward, holds a scorpion. Adorned with a string of freshly severed human heads and various ornaments, including a crown of five skulls, bracelets, earrings, necklaces, and a snake garland, his wrathful expression is intensified by a gaping mouth, exposed fangs, and flaming hair soaring upwards. Guru Dragpur’s lower torso extends into a kila peg from the mouth of a makara (water-monster). Below the sun disk, a lotus blossom is depicted, and the figure above is surrounded by flames of pristine awareness. Several other wrathful deities also feature a kila peg as part of their iconography, not all of which belong to the Buddhist tradition (see Himalayan Art Resourced, item no. 5621). The kila peg is a three-sided Indian ritual object originally used in mandala consecration, later integrated into both Buddhist and Bon traditions for obstacle-removing practices. The scorpion, primarily used in initiation cards, yantra diagrams, and held by deities in the Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism, symbolizes the repression of hindrances. From the symbolism of the objects highlighted, Guru Dragpur’s main function is obstacle removal with the color red further indicating the intensity of his practice.

Sotheby's would like to thank Shinzo Shiratori for his assistance with the cataloguing of this lot.