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Vajravarahi

c. 18th century
Not on view
Returned to lender
This work of art was on loan to the museum and has since been returned to its lender.
Vajravarahi dances wildly atop a corpse and holds a skull cup and khatvanga staff. She wears elaborate jewelry, highlighted with turquoise, and a garland of severed heads. Behind her crown is her defining visual cue, a sow’s head, drawn from the Hindu deity Varahi. This consort of Varaha, Vishnu’s boar incarnation, also appears as one of the seven mother goddesses (saptamatrikas). Given Chakrasamvara’s importance within Tibetan tantric practice, the emphasis on his consort as a goddess for independent veneration is significant.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Vajravarahi
  • Date: c. 18th century
  • Culture: Tibet
  • Medium: Copper alloy, gilding, and paint with inlaid turquoise
  • Dimensions: H. 15 1/8 in.
  • Classification: Sculpture
  • Credit Line: Lent by the Somylo Family Collection
  • Curatorial Department: Asian Art