Carved bone ornament with a dakini
  See it in the Museum
Chapel
Orientation 3
Display 5

ABR 096

 Code: ABR 096

  Country: Tibet

  Style:

  Date: 1500 - 1600

  Dimensions in cm WxHxD: 4.2 x 14.5 x 3

  Materials: Bone

Carved bone ornament with a Dakini 

This ornament was a part of a dancer's apron. It is carved from bone, usually human bone and depicts a Dakini, a female deity. Four-armed, she stands naked in the dancing posture on a lotus base. She holds the flaying knife, the skull cup, the tantric sceptre and the double drum, which she sounds above her head. She is surrounded by scrolling plant tendrils. 

One has to imagine dozens of similar elements connected by a net of beads and bone ornaments, which form the apron. Bone is one of the preferred materials for the production of tantric ritual artefacts.