ABS 319
Code: ABS 319
Country: Tibet
Style:
Date: 1700 - 1800
Dimensions in cm WxHxD: 7 x 12.5
Materials: Gilt copper repoussé
Crown leaf with a skull
This element of a crown shows a smiling skull with plant ornaments and an inlaid turquoise. It was most likely one of five leaves of a crown or ritual headdress. In Tantric Buddhism, the deities in the body of perfect rapture wear a number of ornaments, including a crown with five leaves, each representing one of the five Buddha families. In the case of the wrathful deities, these are adapted with macabre bone ornaments. Thus, the five petals turn into withered skulls representing the five Heruka families or wrathful aspects of the Buddhas. This type of crown is also part of the equipment of oracles.
It could also have been adorning the large black hats of tantric practitioners, worn in the ritual dances of the "golden libations".
This element of a crown shows a smiling skull with plant ornaments and an inlaid turquoise. It was most likely one of five leaves of a crown or ritual headdress. In Tantric Buddhism, the deities in the body of perfect rapture wear a number of ornaments, including a crown with five leaves, each representing one of the five Buddha families. In the case of the wrathful deities, these are adapted with macabre bone ornaments. Thus, the five petals turn into withered skulls representing the five Heruka families or wrathful aspects of the Buddhas. This type of crown is also part of the equipment of oracles.
It could also have been adorning the large black hats of tantric practitioners, worn in the ritual dances of the "golden libations".