143 - STANDING BONE JAMBHALA TIBET 16TH CENTURY

STANDING BONE JAMBHALA TIBET 16TH CENTURY Dimensions: Height 6 cm Wide 4,5 cm Depth 2,5 cm Weight: 30,9 grams A minute carved bone figure of Jambhala, modelled with an energetic, broad-legged stance above a lotus base. The deity has a strongly expressive face, elaborate hair or crown and a compact body framed by sweeping forms behind the shoulders. Small attributes are held close to the torso, while the carving is animated by deeply cut lines, rounded limbs and a dense arrangement of details compressed into only six centimetres. Bone imposes very different demands from bronze. The material is light, warm in tone and limited in thickness, so the carver must work with the natural density of the piece rather than build outward freely through casting. Here the sculptor has used undercutting and darkened recesses to create depth, while years of handling have polished the raised surfaces to a rich honey colour. Jambhala is associated in Buddhist tradition with wealth and abundance, but the visual interest of this miniature lies equally in the material itself. The contrast between creamy bone, darker stained recesses and the rounded lotus base makes the figure highly tactile. It is a compact Himalayan devotional carving in which scale, material and iconography reinforce the sense of a precious personal object.