id: 151002 accession number: 1982.50 share license status: CC0 url: https://clevelandart.org/art/1982.50 updated: 2022-04-20 09:01:44.992000 Vajravarahi, 1300s. Tibet. Gilt bronze with turquoise inlay; overall: 36 cm (14 3/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Leonard C. Hanna, Jr. Fund 1982.50 title: Vajravarahi title in original language: series: series in original language: creation date: 1300s creation date earliest: 1300 creation date latest: 1399 current location: 237 Himalayan creditline: Leonard C. Hanna, Jr. Fund copyright: --- culture: Tibet technique: gilt bronze with turquoise inlay department: Indian and Southeast Asian Art collection: Tibetan Art type: Sculpture find spot: catalogue raisonne: --- CREATORS --- measurements: Overall: 36 cm (14 3/16 in.) state of the work: edition of the work: support materials: inscriptions: --- CURRENT EXHIBITIONS title: The Year in Review for 1982 opening date: 1983-01-05T05:00:00 The Year in Review for 1982. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (January 5-February 6, 1983). title: Focus: Tantra in Buddhist Art opening date: 2013-05-05T00:00:00 Focus: Tantra in Buddhist Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (May 5-September 15, 2013). title: Dance in the Arts of India, Southeast Asia, and the Himalayan World opening date: 2022-11-11T05:00:00 Dance in the Arts of India, Southeast Asia, and the Himalayan World. The Cincinnati Art Museum, Cincinnati, OH (organizer) (November 11, 2022-February 5, 2023); Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, San Francisco, CA (March 31-July 10, 2023). --- LEGACY EXHIBITIONS * The Cleveland Museum of Art (05/05/2013 - 09/15/2013); "Focus:Tantra in Buddhist Art" --- PROVENANCE Pan Asia Collection date: footnotes: citations: (Robert H. Ellsworth [1929-2014], New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art) date: ?-1982 footnotes: citations: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH date: 1982- footnotes: citations: --- fun fact: digital description: wall description: Vajravarahi is the tantric Buddhist counterpart to the Hindu mother goddess Varahi, identifiable by the boar head emerging above her right ear. She is a female enlightened being who emanated from the Buddhist Goddess of Perfect Wisdom. Enlightened beings transcend gender distinctions, and they can emanate as either male or female. The lithe figure dances while carrying a skull cup in her left hand. Raised up in her right hand is a ritual flaying knife with a handle in the shape of a halfvajra, used for skinning the metaphorical beast of uncontrolled passions. The pegs cast into her lower body were for holding a bone skirt. --- RELATED WORKS --- CITATIONS Reedy, Chandra L. Himalayan Bronzes: Technology, Style, and Choices. Newark, DE: University of Delaware Press, 1997. page number: Reproduced: p. 206, fig C180 url: --- IMAGES web: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1982.50/1982.50_web.jpg print: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1982.50/1982.50_print.jpg full: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1982.50/1982.50_full.tif