Wrathful Gaze, Golden Orb

Viewing notes

A viewer's written impression — not a buyer review or first-hand record

This polychrome wrathful figure sits high on a rock throne in an ascetic's guise. The body is lean to the bone, ribs showing beneath the skin; grey-white hair stands on end, the eyes glare wide and small fangs bare at the mouth. Both hands rest in the lap, cradling a golden orb, while silver-beaded chains cross the bare chest and green ribbons with dragon-head ends loop in wide arcs at the shoulders. Teal trousers ringed with bead chains fold into a full lotus seat on the draped rock, and behind him a round aureole of radiating lines and cloud-dragons is ringed with orange-red flames, a small Buddha seated in a medallion at its crest. Before the seat, a low table bears three mounded offerings, and small monkeys and beasts scatter around the cloud-shaped base. Fierce yet steeped in the austerity of practice — a striking piece for devotion or for a collection with an eye for the unusual.