490 - SKULL OF A CHITIPATTI BONE TIBET 18TH CENTURY OR EARLIER

SKULL OF A CHITIPATTI BONE TIBET 18TH CENTURY OR EARLIER Dimensions: Height 3,6 cm Wide 4,7 cm Depth 6 cm Weight: 48 grams A small, carefully worked bone carving in the form of a human skull, its rounded cranium framing deep circular eye sockets, a small nasal opening and a broad, tooth-filled grin. The surface is stained in tones of honey, amber and reddish brown, with fine cracks, darker deposits and visible carving marks lending the miniature an arresting immediacy. The skull is a potent image in Tibetan Vajrayana art, where it evokes the transience of the body and the transformation of fear into insight. Chitipati, the skeletal protectors associated with charnel-ground imagery, belong to this visual world: their dancing forms confront mortality rather than conceal it. The carving depicts Chitipati, the skeletal guardian of Tibetan Buddhist sacred imagery. The expressive skull imagery, however, is unmistakable.