An antique 19th Century or earlier tsakli painting in mineral pigments on cloth, depicting within a burst of roiling flames a wrathful deity in yabyum steps to the right with his sakti, his right arm holding aloft a skull club (danda) and his left holding a disc. His consort, wearing a flayed toad skin about her shoulders brandishes a club with her right hand. He wears a tiger skin dhoti and a flayed elephant skin, with heavy jewellery as they trample prostrate beings beneath their feet. Two lines of Tibetan text to the reverse. 8 x 9.4cm

Tsakli are ritual or initiation cards used in ceremonies such as empowerment, and are a visualisation aid designed so a lama or practitioner can carry all he or she requires to invoke deities or their ritual implements and create a mandala for a ritual wherever it may be needed.