A COPPER ALLOY VAJRA-RING


YUNNAN, DALI KINGDOM, 12TH CENTURYHimalayan Art Resources item no.61677 7.5 cm (3 in.) long
|雲南 大理國 十二世紀 銅金剛杵指環The vajra is the eponymous symbol of Vajrayana Buddhism, yet it has a mysterious application as a ring in the Dali kingdom of Southern China. A unique form of Tantric Buddhism developed under the successive Nanzhao and Dali kingdoms of Yunnan province (8th-13th centuries), acclimatizing esoteric doctrines from the Tang empire and Pala kingdom. An almost identical example, with makara flanking the ring's setting, was discovered at Qianxun Pagoda, published alongside others in Reitberg, Der Goldschatz Der Drei Pagoden, Zurich, 1991, p.218, no.77; and see Chu, Art of Nanzhao-Dali Kingdom, Yunnan, 1992, p.49, no.90. Provenance Jimmy McMullan, Obelisk Gallery, London, late 1960s