SHADBHUJA MAHAKALA STATUETTE IN GILDED COPPER... Lot 4

SHADBHUJA MAHAKALA STATUETTE IN GILDED COPPER ALLOY QING DYNASTY, 18TH CENTURY Himalayan Art Resources item no. 4873 17.5 cm (6 7/8 in.) high Footnotes: A GILT COPPER ALLOY FIGURE OF SHADBHUJA MAHAKALA QING DYNASTY, 18TH CENTURY 清 十八世紀 銅鎏金六臂大黑天像 Provenance: With Claude de Marteau, Brussels, by 1970s Presented with flaming, flickering hair, Shadbhuja Mahakala wildly dances over the trampled body of Vinayaka, the Creator of Obstacles. His principal hands clutch a hooked knife and blood-filled skull cup. After the Gelugpa order swore an allegiance to the Manchu emperors of the Qing empire, devotional images of their chief protector, this six-armed form of Mahakala, became widespread in China and Mongolia. For other 18th century examples of this wrathful deity, see a figure in the Art Institute of Chicago (1924.120), and another sold at Bonhams, New York, 19 March 2018, lot 3054. For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com