leave from a ritual crown
painted wood
Western Himalayas, 11th-12th cent.
size: 25,5 x 11 cm.
A very rare carved and painted leave of a ringga, decorated with a seated figure of Buddha Akshobhya on a throne supported by two elephants and surrounded by an elaborate prabhamandala, crowned by a Kirtimukha. Note that the Buddha is depicted mirror-wise!
These leaves, made of wood, are extremely rare: already Giuseppe Tucci, in The Temples of Western Tibet and their artistic Symbolism, the Monasteries of Spiti and Kunavar (Indo-Tibetica III, 1), New Delhi 1988 (first edition 1935), p. 80-82, writes: `the more antique ritual crowns are made of wood, according perhaps to the India habit …..; the have today become rare beyond measure’.
One complete set is published in: Robert A.F. Thurman and David Weldon, Sacred Symbols, The Ritual Art of Tibet, New York, 1999, p. 22-23, nr. 6.
ex-collection: Moke Mokotoff, New York.
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