A BRASS BON PURBHA


TIBET, 12TH/13TH CENTURYHimalayan Art Resources item no.61958 19 in. (48.2 cm) long
|西藏 十二/十三世紀 銅質苯教普巴杵 Belonging to Tibet's indigenous Bon religion, this striking, heavily cast purbha is wrought unaffectedly with a sense of intense, bound activity. The purbha harnesses the three-sided deity Purbha Drugse Chempa with stacks of wrathful heads above an openwork endless knot grip and a tripartite blade. The whole is bound in red strings with suspended copper skulls talismans. Buddhist versions of the same period – such as one sold at Bonhams, New York, 18 September 2013, lot 3 – would have a vajra in the grip. Compare two other Bon purbhas with the alternative endless knot grip (HAR 10131 & 57062), and a third sold at Bonhams, New York, 14 March 2016, lot 5. Provenance Private Collection, Sydney, acquired in Bhutan, 1960s