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Lot Essay
Hayagriva, "the horse-headed one," is a wrathful protector deity associated with Avalokiteshvara, the god of compassion. Images of Hayagriva date back to post-Gupta India where he is depicted as a diminutive attendant figure resembling a Yaksha, positioned below and flanking Avalokiteshvara, or sometimes Tara (see R. Linrothe, Ruthless Compassion: Wrathful Deities In Early Indo-Tibetan Esoteric Buddhist Art, Boston, 1999, pp. 100-107). Though rare, some of these early Indian images of the dwarf-like Hayagriva include the horses head in his hair, a feature that becomes ubiquitous in later Himalayan examples (see a ninth-century stone stele in the Rietberg Museum, Zurich, ibid, p.106, cat.no.85). Vigorously promoted as a tantric meditational deity by the great Buddhist Adept Atisha (982-1054 CE), Hayagriva is eventually assimilated into Himalayan Buddhism as an independent meditational deity as seen in the present example.
With wings outstretched and the horse's head emerging from his flaming hair, Hayagriva is depicted in his most dynamic form, with three heads, six-arms and four legs, in union with Prajna. Exquisitely modeled in silver alloy, Hayagriva and Prajna dance atop four human figures on a lotus base. He holds a lotus and kapala in his primary hands and wears a garland of severed heads, a skull tiara, multiple layers of beaded jewelry, an elephant skin draped over his back and a tiger skin tied around his waist. He gazes intensely at Prajna who tilts her head back and raises her arms in ecstatic surrender.
Not only is this work exceptionally modeled with tremendous attention to detail, but the use of silver, a rare metal in Himalayan production, establishes it as a highly important commission.
With wings outstretched and the horse's head emerging from his flaming hair, Hayagriva is depicted in his most dynamic form, with three heads, six-arms and four legs, in union with Prajna. Exquisitely modeled in silver alloy, Hayagriva and Prajna dance atop four human figures on a lotus base. He holds a lotus and kapala in his primary hands and wears a garland of severed heads, a skull tiara, multiple layers of beaded jewelry, an elephant skin draped over his back and a tiger skin tied around his waist. He gazes intensely at Prajna who tilts her head back and raises her arms in ecstatic surrender.
Not only is this work exceptionally modeled with tremendous attention to detail, but the use of silver, a rare metal in Himalayan production, establishes it as a highly important commission.