Mdung (spearhead)
Full Description:
A well forged and large ritual mdung (the Tibetan word for spearhead).1 Made out of Iron, it has a straight double-edged blade with a strong medial ridge and tapering sides. The edges are designed to be blunt because of its intended ceremonial function. At the base of the blade is a bulbous knop, and below this a hollow conical socket which has a strong, semi-round, turned rim.
The decoration of this spearhead is intricately engraved, and its entire exterior surface is finely crosshatched and damascened in gold, including the undecorated areas. The motifs include three jewels; the most precious elements of the Buddhist path. There is also an arrangement of stylised flames running up both sides of the blade and a simplified version of the Sword of Wisdom along the central ridge.
The socket is decorated with a symmetrical pattern of curling scrollwork and filled in with finely punched circles, as is the background on the blade.
The present spearhead has a very close relative living in the Metropolitan Museum (MET)2 (accession number 2001.63), which is published in the seminal work - ‘Warriors of the Himalayas: Rediscovering the Arms and Armor of Tibet’ by Donald J. LaRocca. It is in the catalogue accompanying the exhibition at the museum in 2006.3 This one is very similar indeed, with the main difference being the tip, which may have been reshaped. However, the proportions suggest that it hasn’t lost much material at all and is actually 30mm (one inch and a quarter) longer than the MET’s example. The other difference is that the concave sides are far more pronounced, as can be seen at the base of the blade.
Provenance
European art market
References
1Donald J. LaRocca, Warriors of the Himalayas – Rediscovering the Arms and Armour of Tibet, 2006, pp.174.
2https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/26600.
3Donald J. LaRocca, Warriors of the Himalayas – Rediscovering the Arms and Armour of Tibet, 2006, pp.180, cat.no.84.