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