A spectacular gilt bronze group depicting Chakrasamvara and Vajravarahi Tibet, 14th century

the twelve-armed Samvara holding prescribed ritual implements with the feet of a flayed elephant skin in his uppermost hands, engaged in union with his prajna Vajravarahi, both naked but for bone jewelry, garlands of severed heads and crowns of skulls, Samvara with a crescent moon and skull in his hair, and stepping to his left in the alidha posture trampling Kalaratri and Bhairava laying prostrate on a lotus pedestal, all finely gilt with jewelry inset with semi-precious stones and colored glass

Spink & Son Ltd., The Art of Nepal & Tibet, London, 1979, Front Cover illustration

In mostly good condition for the period, with gilding remaining almost completely intact, with a fine hue and richer in tone than in the catalogue illustration. Chakrasamvara's central crown leaf broken and reattached. Some stone settings damaged overall with loss of inset gems, but many remaining intact with their original settings of dark blue, light blue, emerald green and garnet-red glass . Some ritual implements now missing including the separately cast flayed elephant skin, the feet remaining in the uppermost hands, the four-faced head of Brahma now missing but the hair remaining in the lower left hand, and one hand replaced on the right arm held up and closest to Vajravarahi. The crown of the Dakini with one skull missing and two further losses to the skull finials, her right hand and arm replaced from the upper armband. A split in one strand of the jewelry hanging from Vajravarahi's waist, and their garlands of severed heads now unattached to the jewel boss still connected to the front of the lotus pedestal. Cracks running above and below the lotus petals of the pedestal, with some straightening and consolidation overall. Cracks appearing on the left ankle of Chakrasamvara running through the ankle jewelry, with slight buckling and stress cracks behind where the figure has been bent slightly out of true. The tenon emerging from the waist at the back of Chakrasamvara now partially broken off, with the right foot of Vajravarahi broken with the toes missing. A consecration plate in the middle of the back of Chakrasmavara remains intact.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Chakrasamvara and Vajravarahi engage in the perfect union of Wisdom and Compassion in this dramatic and powerful sculpture. The statue serves as a device for the visualization of the Chakrasamvara tantra, literally Circle of Bliss. The tantra is a secret treatise with its origin in medieval eastern India, and is used by practitioners to increase their ability to attain the ultimate goal of Enlightenment; for a succinct discussion by Dina Bangdel on the content of the tantra, see John C. Huntington & Dina Bangdel, The Circle of Bliss: Buddhist Meditational Art, Columbus, 2003, pp. 264-8. The sculpture bears the hallmarks of Newar artists that worked en masse throughout Tibet from the thirteenth century onwards. Sensuous and expressive modelling, rich mercury gilding and inset multicolored gems characterize the Nepalese style. The statue is made in the Newar style commissioned by Tibetan patrons in the creation of such magnificent structures as the celebrated monastery of Densatil, now sadly destroyed. Compare the rich gilding, the colored stone insets and the full volumes of fragments probably from the Densatil monastery, see Amy Heller, Tibetan Art: Tracing the Development of Spiritual Ideals and Art in Tibet, 600-2000 A.D., Milan, 1999, pp. 158-9, pls. 83-4. Compare also a circa fourteenth century Tibetan gilt copper group depicting Vajradhara and prajna, see Ulrich von Schroeder, Indo-Tibetan Bronzes, p. 330, pl. XII & p. 365, fig 98E. A tang protruding from the middle of the back of the Chakrasamvara would indicate a placement in a larger setting, possibly one such as seen in photographs taken at Densatil in 1948 by the Italian photographer Pietro Mele, see Pietro Francesco Mele, Tibet, Calcutta, 1975.