A BONE RITUAL APRON TIBET OR NEPAL, 19TH CENTURY OR EARLIERA BONE RITUAL APRONTIBET OR NEPAL, 19TH CENTURY OR EARLIERHimalayan Art Resources item no. 4729 66 x 78 cm (26 x 30 3/4 in.)西藏或尼泊爾 十九世紀或此前 骨雕瓔珞裙Several Tantric yidams are depicted wearing human bone aprons, including Chakrasamvara, who is the central subject of this example, flanked by his retinue of yoginis. Initially such ritual attire was worn by life-size sculptures of deities and by spiritual masters during rituals involving the dissolution of their egos into that of the yidam (cf. Marsh in, "Mirrors of the Heart-Mind," Huntington Archive, 1998). Later, they were often worn by monks and lamas during public festivals and ceremonies, including masked dances in which the performers meditated on and transformed themselves into dakinis, yidams, and dharmapalas (see Ramos, Tantra: Enlightenment to Revolution, 2020, p. 168). Another crisply-carved example with a similar ornamental arrangement and tasseled bells was sold at Christie's, New York, 23 March 1999, lot 107 (published in Henss, Buddhist Ritual Art of Tibet, 2020, p. 263, no. 336). Also compare a group of bone aprons from the George Sheridan Collection sold at Bonhams, London, 9 June 2014, lots 202, 203, 414 & 415.Provenance:Private Collection, United Kingdom, by early 1980s