TIBET, 16TH-17TH CENTURY

This intricate piece represents Vajravarahi, one of the most popular female tantrict deities in Tibetan Buddhism. In the Nyingma school she is the consort of Hayagriva, the wrathful form of Avalokiteshvara, and most classically portrayed on one foot in a dynamic dancing position. In this representation, she stands atop a lotus base, holding a kapala, or skull cup in her right hand and a chopper in her left, wearing a festooned belt and adorned with beaded necklaces and a garland of severed heads. On her face, she expresses a wrathful countenance surmounted by a skull tiara.

The present lot hails from the collection of Alfred Byrd Graf (1901-2001), a renowned German botanist and world traveler, dedicated his life to horticulture and plant exploration. He discovered over 100 new plant species, including notable varieties of Dracaena, Sansevieria, and the first white African violet, meticulously documenting them in an illustrated book series. Throughout his career, he embarked on numerous expeditions across the continents, seeking new species from New Guinea to Mount Kilimanjaro -- “a wall in [his home] displayed a map of the world with a pin dot for every place he and his wife, had gone plant hunting. Few areas were left dotless” (W. Saxton, Alfred Graf, 100, Botanist and Author of Plant Books, New York Times, 2002.). Byrd is known to have savored the ornamental usage of plants in Asia and had a deep appreciation for accompanying local sculptural and craft traditions.