Country Group:

Item id: 10890

18/19thC or earlier Tibetan or Nepalese cast bronze Yantra, or three dimensional Mandela or three dimensional Mandala base for a Buddhist or Hindu figure. (See photos for an example of how it can be used as a base for a statue). This is a very large- 17"Diameter x 5.25"H And quite heavy- 15lbs three dimensional Mandala. It is meant to be used as an object of meditation. It can be either hung on a wall or can’t sit on a table. It shows evidence of having hung on a wall for a very long time as it has literally pulled out of round and had the hook that held it up, completely pull out due to the force sof gravity and time. The Hook appears to have been welded, but that was not enough to keep it held together given the 15 pounds of weight. At the very center there is a round flat area that appears to be made for a statue to stand when this is laid flat on a surface. I have placed a Shiva Nataraj in one of the photos.(not included.) to give an example of what this can look like.. take a look at the Marriott of symbolic design covering the surfac-from the circle of well castDoorje, to the stylized flames, to the four direction, abstract, temples, to the miniature Buddha or monks, to the auspicious symbols, to the other harder to identify symbols. I believe it is probably Nepalese as almost all of the other three dimensional Mandalas I have seen through the years have been Napalese, though I have no other reason to know that it is from Nepal rather than from Tibet. All of the others that I have seen have been from 2 1/2 to 7 inches across. None have been remotely close to the impressive 17 inch size of this one, and none of them had a place on them to put another statue on the top. I keep this in the middle of my dining room table with a tall standing in the round sculpture, like the one in the photo used as an example, and it lights up the entire dining room. It is a powerful ritual object that has energy to it that is hard to quantify or describe. You can feel it when you hold it in your hands or when you see it in person. Hopefully some of this comes through in the photos.