SilverTibet, 16th centuryDimensions: Height 9 cmWeight: 266 grams with baseIn Tibetan Buddhism this is a wrathful emanation of Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara, here standing in wide stance on a plinth. Mahakala is dressed in a short dhoti, wearing a skull garland, anklets and with bare feet. His two hands are holding a skull cup or kapala and a crescent-shaped knife or chopper. His face is grim with a broad nose and bulging eyes and a third eye on the forehead. His crown of five skulls encloses a second head of a Mahakala with fierce face, skull crown and wild hair.