TIBET, 14TH-15TH CENTURY

The wrathful or yidam tutelary deity stands in a powerful lunge, or alidhasana. His face is modeled in a fierce expression, with sharp fangs, wide eyes, and fiery orange hair. His right hand brandishes a vajra, the left in tarjanimudra, as his arms are decorated with snake ornaments and his waist a tiger pelt. Vajrapani, originally a peaceful bodhisattva in the Mahayana tradition (see lot 407), has a wrathful manifestation within the Tantric or Vajrayana Buddhist tradition.