Five plaques from a bone apron

19th century?

Beads carved from human leg bones serve as a reminder of the transience of life on earth. This assembly was part of a larger apron that priests wore when enacting tantric ceremonies to drive away evil. Each of the plaques is coated with carvings of sacred figures, some crowned and dancing, others four-armed and wearing a beaked mask. On the central plaque, a "face of glory" is seen as a catlike mask. Smaller plaques that serve as spacers are also incised with a standing figure, a figure in a combative kneeling pose and the last seated with a left foot placed on a lotus seat of "royal ease."

Human bone

9 x 12 in. (22.86 x 30.48 cm)

Eugene Fuller Memorial Collection

48.25

Not currently on view

Resources

Exhibition HistorySeattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, "Art of the Ancient Americas", July 10, 1999 - May 11, 2003

Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, "A Bead Quiz", July 1, 2008 - July 1, 2009,(7/1/2008 - 7/1/2009)

Seattle Art Museum respectfully acknowledges that we are on Indigenous land, the traditional territories of the Coast Salish people. We honor our ongoing connection to these communities past, present, and future.

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