A COPPER-INLAID FIGURE OF TSANG NYON HERUKA

TIBET, 16TH CENTURY

Details

A COPPER-INLAID FIGURE OF TSANG NYON HERUKA
TIBET, 16TH CENTURY
The bearded mystic seated in lalitasana on a deer skin over a double-lotus base, with a vajra in his right hand and a kapala in his left, wearing an ornately incised garment adorned with a beaded apron and jewelry, his braided chignon centered by a floret
6 7/8 in. (17.5 cm.) high

Provenance

The Sporer Collection, New Jersey, acquired in New York, 25 January 1985

Literature

Himalayan Art Resource (himalayanart.org), item no. 24052

Lot Essay

The mystic, Tsang Nyon Heruka (1452-1507) was an author and teacher famous for wearing “the Heruka attire," an anti-social manner of dressing described in Chakrasamvara and Hevajra Tantric texts. He is also known for writing and compiling the One Hundred Thousand Songs of Milarepa along with numerous biographies of early Kagyu teachers. In the 15th century he set about to revive the old Marpa Kagyu traditions of extensive retreats in isolated locations.

Compare with a similar 16th century work in the John and Berthe Ford Collection (P. Pal, Desire and Devotion: Art from Indian, Nepal and Tibet in the John and Berthe Ford Collection, 2001, p.306, fig.180).

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