Advanced Search
Requires Photography
Vajrakila With His Sakti
Tibetan
17th–18th century
Object Place: Tibet
Medium/Technique
Distemper on cotton, no mount
Dimensions
69.5 x 46 cm (27 3/8 x 18 1/8 in.)
Credit Line
Denman Waldo Ross Collection
Accession Number17.1371
NOT ON VIEW
CollectionsAsia
ClassificationsPaintings
DescriptionPainting in hanging scroll (thangka) format, but without original decorative borders.
At the center, a large, blue-skinned, winged, 6-armed wrathful deity (Vajrakila) with three faces (side faces are yellow and red) stands in yab-yum with a green-skinned shakti. He holds vajras in his upper right hands and a khatvanga (ritual wand) in his central left hand. His upper left hand points upward in the gesture of menace. His two lower hands hold a dagger (phurbu) at the shakti's back. The couple stands on bodies on a lotus pedestal surrounded by flames. Above, there is a cluster of 4 monastic figures at the center, with a bodhisattva at the left and a red-skinned dakini at the right. Below, at the left is a red, 6-armed wrathful deity and at the right is a blue wrathful deity in yab-yum with a green shakti. At the center is a skeleton surrounded by billowing smoke
At the center, a large, blue-skinned, winged, 6-armed wrathful deity (Vajrakila) with three faces (side faces are yellow and red) stands in yab-yum with a green-skinned shakti. He holds vajras in his upper right hands and a khatvanga (ritual wand) in his central left hand. His upper left hand points upward in the gesture of menace. His two lower hands hold a dagger (phurbu) at the shakti's back. The couple stands on bodies on a lotus pedestal surrounded by flames. Above, there is a cluster of 4 monastic figures at the center, with a bodhisattva at the left and a red-skinned dakini at the right. Below, at the left is a red, 6-armed wrathful deity and at the right is a blue wrathful deity in yab-yum with a green shakti. At the center is a skeleton surrounded by billowing smoke
InscriptionsSmall wax seal on reverse.
Provenance1917, Denman Waldo Ross, Cambridge, MA; 1917, gift of Ross to the MFA. (Accession Date: April 5, 1917)