Provenance:
Lionel and Danielle Fournier Collection
Vajrabhairava fills the center of the painting with a dense array of dark limbs, faces, and attributes set against a richly-patterned red ground. His buffalo head is surmounted by a red face and, above it, the serene face of Manjushri. Nine faces, thirty-four hands, and sixteen legs spread outward within an arch of flames. His primary hands embrace his consort, Vajravetali, while others hold ritual implements, including the curved knife (karttrka) and skull-cup (kapala). Bone ornaments and a necklace of severed heads reinforce the deity's fierce aspect.
Vajrabhairava's many legs extend across the lower part of the composition, trampling animals, birds, demons, and Hindu deities. Smaller figures frame the central deity: Tsongkhapa sits between his disciples at upper left, while Milarepa appears at upper right. The lower register contains a monk facing Jambhala and White Tara, Sadbhujamahakala, Vaishravana, and Yama Dharmaraja.
Vajrabhairava is a wrathful form of Manjushri, the Buddha of Wisdom, and the principal meditation deity of the Highest Yoga Tantra practiced by the Geluk school of Tibetan Buddhism, founded in the early fifteenth century by Tsongkhapa.
