Vyala Tibet, ca 14°-15° century Embossed copper.... Lot 33

Vyala Tibet, ca 14°-15° century Embossed copper. 56 x 42 cm Important fragment from a torana which constituted the dosseret of a throne in front of which a deity was placed. The theme of a fantastic animal, a hybrid between a goat and a leonine, most often named Vyala, on whose back a deity is placed, is directly derived from the archetypal backsplashes of thrones in ancient India. This fantastic animal is also sometimes considered to be a Sharaba. Note the beautiful dynamic synthesis that the artist has created with the bodies of the character and the animal. As is often the case with Tibetan objects that were originally gilded, the gilding was removed after the demolition of monasteries in the 1960s. Some elements of this work could allow us to consider, but without certainty, that it could come from the Densatil monastery. Visible damage and small missing parts. Provenance : - Tessier-Sarrou sale, Hôtel Drouot, 7 June 2010, lot 97 - Fréderic Rond, Indian Heritage Gallery (Paris) 2014 - Acquired from the latter by its current owner