WOOD PAINTED DOOR DEPICTING MAHAKALA Wood painted Tibet , 19th century or later Dimensions: Height 54 cm Weight: 2910 grams The motif shows a dancing blue Mahakala on a colourful lotus podest. A tiger skin covers his hips and he is wearing golden sandals and necklaces. The face is fierce with three bulging eyes representing the past, the present and the future, opened mouth and bushy eyebrows like flames. His fiery hair is held with a skull tiara. In his hands he is holding a curved knife to cut the life veins of hindering spirits. In his other hand he is holding a thread or noose to capture the ones who have strayed from the path of the Dharma. A bright aureole in fiery colour surrounds him, all is set on a black background.