Goddess Vajravarahi

Description

This powerful red goddess dances vigorously and raises one hand that would have held a flaying knife, while the other once held a skull cup. Her bone skirt and garland of freshly severed heads complement the skulls that adorn her crown. Her eyes bulge, her brow furrows, and she bares her teeth. These attributes communicate her power to assist her followers in overcoming passions, ignorance, and fear. This is one of the earliest surviving images made of unbaked clay, using an iron armature and rope strings to support the ornament.

Provenance

(Therese Margaret Clayton, New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art) (?–1964); The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (1964–)

Goddess Vajravarahi

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c. 1040–c. 1310

Accession Number

1964.103

Medium

unbaked clay and pigment

Dimensions

Overall: 63.5 cm (25 in.)

Classification

Sculpture

Museum

The Cleveland Museum of Art

Cleveland, United States

Credit Line

Andrew R. and Martha Holden Jennings Fund