A GILT-BRONZE FIGURE OF RAKTAYAMARI AND CONSORT CHINA, YONGLE MARK AND PERIOD

the protector deity Raktayamari in fierce alidhasana with consort Vajravetali atop a supine buffalo mount, holding a vajra-hilted sword in his raised right hand and a skullcup filled with blood in the left hand, both deities wearing five-pointed crowns and the six bone ornaments representing the six paramitas, with incised six-character reign mark 

Private Midwestern collection, 1970s.

Good overall condition. Minor wear to gilding overall. Slight bend to Raktayamari's sword. Original supine figure which would have lain between the deity's feet and the bull mount now missing. Central tassel element at the back of Vajravetali's waist now missing. Base plate intact and sealed with two green wax stamps.
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This exquisite gilt-bronze depicting the yidam or meditational deity Raktayamari, shown here with his prajña Vajravetali, is a wrathful manifestation of Manjushri, the bodhisattva of discriminating wisdom, as well as a form of Yamantaka, the Lord of Death. The buffalo underfoot the two deities symbolizes death overcome through the ecstatic union of male and female energies. 

The artists working in the imperial workshops during the Yongle period (1403-1424) remain anonymous, but their sculptures have now become recognised as among the most important works of art from the Buddhist world, characterised by faultless casting and rich gilding. Some fifty-four gilt bronzes bearing the inscription “Da Ming Yongle nian shi” (bestowed in the Yongle era of the great Ming) have been documented in Tibetan monastery collections, see von Schroeder,Buddhist Sculptures in Tibet, Hong Kong, 2001, Vol. II, pp. 1237-91. These works have survived in Tibet largely due to imperial patronage lavished on Tibetan hierarchs and monasteries during the reign of Zhu Di (1360-1424), who pursued a bountiful relationship with Tibetan religious leaders during his reign as Yongle (Perpetual Happiness) emperor.

Compare the dynamic posture and superlative casting of the present work to a another fine Yongle mark and period copper and gold figure of Raktayamari Father-Mother from the State Hermitage Collection in Leningrad, Robert A.F. Thurman and Marylin M. Rhie, Wisdom and Compassion: The Sacred Art of Tibet, New York 1991, p. 223, cat. no. 76; and nother Yongle mark and period gilt-bronze depicting Mahakala, Heather Karmay, Early Sino-Tibetan Art, Warminster, 1975, p. 90, pls. 60, 61. 

Himalayan Art Resources item no. 12853.