BÂTON RITUEL EN ACIER DAMASQUINÉ OR TIBET ORIENTAL, DERGÉ, VERS XVIE SIÈCLEBÂTON RITUEL EN ACIER DAMASQUINÉ ORTIBET ORIENTAL, DERGÉ, VERS XVIE SIÈCLE Himalayan Art Resources item no. 205003 76 cm (29 7/8 in.) highA GOLD DAMASCENED STEEL RITUAL SKULL CLUB EASTERN TIBET, DERGE, CIRCA 16TH CENTURY 藏東 更慶鎮 約十六世紀 鋼鋄金骷髏天杖 The long steel shaft is wrapped in golden snakes around a central knot with a dried skull at the top and a vajra terminal at the bottom.As noted by Beer (Encyclopedia of Tibetan Symbols and Motifs, 2004, p. 140, "The skull club is a right-hand method weapon of many deities, and symbolizes the cessation or 'death' of karmic predispositions and the ultimate emptiness of all phenomena. As a weapon it terrifies all demons and subjugates all the vicious spirits of the three realms". The skull club is a modification of a khatvanga, see lot 127 and also compare with a related example in the JPHY Collection (Henss, Buddhist Ritual Art of Tibet, 2020, p. 198, fig. 236) and another in Bazin, Rituels Tibetains, 2002, no. 99.Published:Ramon Prats, et.al., Monasterios y lamas del Tibet, Madrid, Fundación "La Caixa", 2000, p. 122, no. 68.Exhibited:Monasterios y lamas del Tibet, Fundación "La Caixa", Madrid, November 2000-January 2001.Provenance:Art Market, 1970s