A splendid antique 19th Century or earlier (significantly earlier) tsakli painting in mineral pigments depicting within a burst of roiling flames a very wrathful, winged Heruka deity with a blue body, 3 faces - one blue, one yellow and one red, 6 arms and two legs, in yabyum with his rather corpulent, green bodied Sakti. His face is terrible, with open, fanged mouths and curling tongues open in a scream, his streaming hair held back behind a skull diadem in a dorje knot. He has red eyebrows, moustaches and beard. His right hands hold a sword, a lotus bud tipped staff, and a lick of flame, while his left hold a flag, a skull cup and a dorje? His Sakti, who wears a skull diadem and red ribbon about her waist above her leopard skin dhoti holds a skull cup. He wears flayed human and elephant skins and many snakes as bodhisattva ornaments, a garland of severed heads and a tiger skin dhoti - his great wings with green scaly edges form a dramatic backdrop to the couple as they trample upon prostrate beings, including a couple of bovines who are clearly not enjoying the experience. Unusually, at the lower left hand side of the painting there is a fearful supplicant portrayed, who also appears to be wearing flayed skins.
Traces of deliberately and unintentionally deleted text to the reverse side. 11.3 x 9.7cm