31
T H E  A D A M A N T I N E  T E R R I F I E R 
O N  T H E  D R E S S E R 
G e r a l d  K o z i c z , 
D i  L u o
In 1957, a team from Filmske novosti was invited to produce a 
documentary of a well-known resident of Ljubljana, Tsuneko Kondō-
Kawase / Marija Skušek (1893–1963).1 The film was a portrait of the 
woman who called herself »the first Japanese Slovenian« as well as a 
documentary of her flat at Strossmayerjeva 3 in the centre of Ljubljana 
(Fig.1). At the beginning of the film, Tsuneko Kondō-Kawase, dressed 
in a kimono, opens a double-wing glass door and invites the audience 
into her living room. As the camera follows her, the viewer’s attention 
is directed towards a collection of small metalwork pieces displayed on 
a dresser in front of a mirror (Fig. 2). The arrangement is reminiscent 
of an altar, as the religious nature of the sculptures is immediately per-
ceivable. Buddhas depicted in monk’s robes and seated on lotus bases 
constitute the majority of the sculptures, while Bodhisattvas and Cos-
mic Buddhas adorned with crowns, jewelled ornaments and silken gar-
ments are also present. 
One sculpture is particularly highlighted and singled out in a sep-
arate frame (Fig. 3). The commentator calls the figure a »Buddha«. 
The sculpture actually consists of two deities in an embrace – Vajrab-
hairava, the Adamantine Terrifier (lit. Lord of Wrath), and his consort 
Vajravetālī, the Adamantine Corpse, standing on two rows of smaller 
crouching figures. 
1   Zanimiva zbirka, avtor Vladimir Perišić ©Filmske novosti Beograd, 1957, https://www.
youtube.com/watch?v=tFDnA8UzBr0.
https://doi.org/10.35469/poligrafi.2024.453 Poligrafi, no. 113/114, vol. 29, 2024, pp. 31–59
P O L I G r A F I
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Fig. 1: Still from the 1957 film, Filmske novosti.
Fig. 2: Still from the 1957 film, Filmske novosti.
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Vajrabhairava, or Vajramahābhairava (Tib. rdo rje ’jigs byed chen po, 
Great Lord of Wrath), is also commonly addressed as Yamāntaka, ‘the 
ender of death’ (death = Yama). Vajrabhairava is the highest and most 
potent form of the Yamāntaka group of deities of tantric Buddhism, 
all of whom share the central buffalo head as a key feature, which is 
derived from buffalo-headed Yama, the Lord of Death. It is a common 
practice in esoteric Buddhism, or more traditionally Vajrayāna and Se-
cret Mantrayāna, that an obstacle encountered along the path towards 
enlightenment is brought down by using the obstacle as a weapon 
against itself. 
Fig. 3: The wrathful couple. Skušek collection, Slovene Ethnographic Museum, 
Ljubljana (inv. no. 216 MG). © H. Motoh.
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34
The iconographical representation of wrathful deities is the stand-
ardised method of visualising this concept. In this specific case, the 
Buddhist response to death is to adopt the same form, absorb and 
transform, and eventually subdue the obstacle.2 The addition of the 
female consort reflects the aspect of wisdom (Skr. prajñā), which com-
pletes and directs the aspect of compassion (Skr. karuṇā) and skilful 
means (Skr. upayā) associated with the male figure. Thereby, this sculp-
ture–just as tantric Buddhist art in general–is a direct reflection of a 
psychic process. 
Fig. 4: The wrathful facial expression of Vajravetālī, Slovene Ethnographic Museum, 
Ljubljana (inv. no. 216 MG). © G. Kozicz.
2  One Tibetan myth tells the story of a murdered (decapitated) monk who transforms into a 
demon and replaces his head with a buffalo head. He devastates the country until the Bodhisat-
tva Mañjuśrī adopts the same form and overcomes the demon.
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Vajrabhairava stands in an active pose with 16 legs on various small 
figures, while his 17 pairs of arms, holding weapons and attributes (ex-
cept for the central pair which embraces his female partner), create a 
radiating aureole. Vajravetālī clings to him with her left leg around his 
back. Both of her hands are raised while she leans back, looking up-
wards (Fig. 4). Vajrabhairava is nine-headed. In addition to the three 
frontally-oriented heads, he has three additional heads on the left and 
three on the right (Fig. 5).  With the exception of the head at the top 
centre, all heads express extreme wrath, with protruding eyes and ex-
posed fangs. The same applies for the single head of Vajravetālī.
  Fig. 5: rear and lateral heads of Vajrabhairava, Slovene Ethnographic Museum, 
Ljubljana (inv. no. 216 MG). © G. Kozicz.
To the visitors of Tsuneko Kondō-Kawase’s home in the 1950s, the 
representation of the terrifying couple must have made quite an im-
pression. The sculpture’s immediate visual impact is certainly a good 
reason for placing it in the centre of the altar-like arrangement. At first 
sight, the configuration of the figures on the dresser seems to follow 
a visual logic, as the figures are simply placed according to size and 
P O L I G r A F I
36
design rather than a specific iconographic or ideological structure that 
would be expected for an actual altar set. The order applied by Tsuneko 
Kondō-Kawase appears to be derived from the visual principles and 
qualities of the individual objects in the first place, if not exclusively 
based on representational considerations. Even placing the sculpture 
close to the mirror makes sense, because otherwise it would have been 
impossible for the visitors to see the horizontally arranged faces at the 
back of the piece. (Fig. 6a and 6b). This placement is reminiscent of 
museum exhibitions where multi-headed Indian statues–both Bud-
dhist and Brahmānic ones such as the Maheśvara form of Śiva or Viṣṇu 
Vaikuṇṭha–are often displayed in front of mirrors allowing visitors to 
see the wrathful faces at the rear (Fig. 6a/b). 
From a museological perspective, the documentary by Filmske 
novosti presents the collection as a part of a small but well-curated 
exhibition. Every exhibition, however, reflects a concept and the inten-
tion of the curator. In other words, it also tells us something about the 
curator. But who was the curator of this lived-in museum? So far, little 
is known about the pieces that actually came into the possession of the 
Skušeks. Ivan Skušek has been entitled the »collector,« but there is no 
evidence at all that he had acted as a collector in the sense of a specialist 
or an amateur scholar in Asian art. He had been a commissioner to the 
sea of the Austro-Hungarian navy with special training in economics, 
who, under unfavourable circumstances, spent several years in China. 
His activities rather resembled those of an art dealer.
The situation is completely different for Tsuneko Kondō-Kawase. 
By the time the film was produced, she had been a widow for ten years, 
and it had been 30 years since she was baptised. Born in Japan as Tsune-
ko Kondō-Kawase, she spent her youth in Northeast China, years that 
must have had a long-lasting impact on her intellect and cultural iden-
tity.3 After relocating to a completely different cultural environment in 
Europe, she not only maintained but even cultivated her identity as the 
first Japanese woman in Ljubljana. It is quite obvious that she adopted 
3  See Klara Hrvatin, »The ‘First Mrs Japanese’ of Slovenia between the two World Wars: 
Marija Skušek and Her Series of Lectures on Japanese Women,« Asian studies 9 (25), no. 3 
(2021): 169-197, https://doi.org/10.4312/as.2021.9.3.169-197.
P R E S E N T I N G ,  ( R E ) C O N S T R U C T I N G  A N D  A R R A N G I N G  M E D I E V A L  A R T E F A C T S 
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the role of the curator of the collection and shaped the stage wherein 
she began to play a central role, though this was of course never made 
official. It can be fairly assumed that both the traditional education re-
ceived by Japanese women as well as the patriarchal system of Slovenia 
at that time determined that her position remained in the background.4 
In this context, the question arises whether or not the arrangement 
of the figures resulted from a deliberate creation of a Buddhist house 
altar. Even if not created as such on purpose, to what extent might the 
4  In 1930, Tsuneko Kondō-Kawase gave a number of public lectures about the role of wom-
en in Japanese society focusing on the strict subordination in marriage (ibid. 180). One such 
lecture was held at Graz Urania on 8 October (Tagespost 8. Oktober, 1930, Graz).
Fig. 6a and b: Four-headed Viṣṇu Vaikuṇṭha in front of a mirror, Bhuri Singh 
Museum, Chamba, India. © G. Kozicz.
P O L I G r A F I
38
arrangement reflect a Buddhist perspective or even ideology? And how 
would a Buddhist practitioner at the time experience the presentation? 
Any inspection through the buddhological lens must naturally focus on 
the centrepiece: Vajrabhairava and Vajravetālī in an embrace.
A Matter of Wisdom
The presence of Vajrabhairava with Vajravetālī on the dresser requires 
as much explanation as their position in the centre. The terrifying cou-
ple expresses a motif that has never really gained a strong foothold in 
classical (Han) Chinese Buddhism which largely rejected the theology 
and explicit art of the Yoga- and Higher Yoga-tantras, two later tra-
ditions of Tibetan tantric Buddhism. However, the practice of these 
tantras has been documented in the case of several Chinese emperors, 
most prominently the powerful Qing ruler Qianlong (r. 1735–1796). It 
is not a surprise that a stylistic comparison with other pieces of metal-
work suggests that this sculpture was likely produced by an imperial 
workshop in Beijing at the end of the 18th century.5  
What we see on the dresser in the 1957 documentary might be read 
as a short history or visual summary of an impactful facet of Buddhism 
in China. The reconstruction of the possible meaning of the Vajrab-
hairava sculpture under discussion in its socio-cultural and religious 
context requires a retrospection into the long history and ambivalent 
interaction of the figure with Chinese culture. The origin of this his-
tory can be traced to the Vedic tradition of South Asia and back to 
Yama, the first of humankind. As the first to live on Earth, Yama is also 
the first to die and who then becomes the Lord of the Dead and the 
ruler of the Underworld, the sovereign to all who follow him.6 There, 
Yama serves as the judge for those who enter the intermediate state 
between death and rebirth. He represents the Final Judgement in the 
Vedic and Brahmānic concepts of reincarnation and rebirth. He knows 
5  We are thankful to Ulrich von Schroeder, Gerd Mevissen and Norbert Deuchert for their 
assessments regarding the approximate date and place of the production.
6  See Stella Kramrisch, The Hindu Temple, Vol. 1 (Calcutta: University of Calcutta, 1946 
[repr. 1976]), 12.
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39
the dharma, the cosmic order or law in Indian religion and philosophy, 
and decides which scenario of rebirth will become effective. Eventu-
ally, he is identified with the dharma and is referred to as Dharmarāja 
(»dharma king«), being elevated to the status of the ruler of the world. 
This promotion was based on the belief that he had the ability to move 
freely and swiftly between the various hells and heavens of the cosmos.7 
In the Buddhist context, dharma was expressed to a large extent in 
a textual corpus entitled the Perfection of Wisdom, or Prajñāpāramitā in 
Sanskrit, which found its visual expression in the anthropomorphic form 
of a goddess with the same name. The compilation of Prajñāpāramitā 
sutras in the 2nd century CE marked the so-called Second Turning 
of the Wheel or Second revelation of the Buddhist Teaching in the 
history of the religion. About the same time, the male Bodhisattva of 
Wisdom, Mañjuśrī, appears on the stage and soon gains significance 
as a major figure in the growing Buddhist pantheon. When Buddhism 
spread to China in the first half of the first millennium, Mañjuśrī seems 
to have become the more prominent representation of wisdom. David 
Quinter notes that the Bodhisattva was soon identified as a Buddha8; he 
was even addressed as the »Mother of Buddhas«, an epitaph which ac-
cording to Conze was originally given to the goddess Prajñāpāramitā.9 
This transfer of the salutation hints at a shift from female to male, 
which might have also been a response to the cultural preferences of the 
Chinese patriarchal society. During the Tang dynasty in the late 7th–
8th century, Mañjuśrī was elevated to the centre of Chinese Buddhism 
and politics. He was promoted to the position of a state protector and 
became associated with Wutai Shan, the Five-Terrace Mountains which 
rose in significance as his earthly residence and the paramount Bud-
dhist pilgrimage site of East Asia (Quinter ibid. 594).
7  Ibid. quoting from the Śatapatha Brāhmana, XI. 2.3.5.  
8  David Quinter, »Mañjuśrī in East Asia,« in Brill’s Encyclopaedia of Buddhism, Vol. II, ed. 
Jonathan A. Silk et al. (Leiden-Boston: Brill, 2019), 591–599.
9  Edward Conze, The Prajñāpāramitā Literature (London: Mouton&Co, 1958 [repr. 2008]), 15.
P O L I G r A F I
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Fig. 7: Stele of Bodhisattva Mañjuśrī with dwarfish Yamāntaka (viewer’s left), ASI 
Site Museum, Bodhgaya, India. © G. Kozicz.
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41
The Yamāntaka Category
In eastern India, Yamāntaka, the Buddhicised form of Yama, start-
ed to appear at the beginning of the 9th century as a companion to 
Mañjuśrī in the form of a dwarf-like yakṣa leaning on a club (Fig. 7). 
While Yamāntaka was depicted in anthropomorphic form, a bull was 
sometimes included as his vehicle (Skr. vāhana). A 6th-century text, 
the Mañjuśrīmūlakalpa, paved the way for this configuration as it »un-
equivocally identifies Yamāntaka as Mañjuśrī‘s wrathful emanation«.10 
He was transformed into an independent, full-scale Buddhist deity in 
its own right by the 9th–10th century.11 
At the same time, tantric texts such as the Vajramahābhairava Tantra 
took shape. Various historical sources locate the origin of this text in 
Oḍḍiyāna, in the Swat district of modern Pakistan.12 The tantras were 
composed after (or rather in response to) the theological concept of 
Bhairava, the terrifying form of Śiva and Brahmānic manifestation of 
destructive wrath (Fig. 8). While the first Buddhist mention of Bhaira-
va in the Mañjuśrīnāmasamgīti, a text roughly dated to the 8th cen-
tury, already links Mañjuśrī, Yamāntaka and Vajrabhairava together, the 
10th-century monk Lalitavajra from Nālandā Monastery in East India 
is credited as the receiver of the tantras during his study in Oḍḍiyāna.13
Lalitavajra then transmitted the text to his disciple Līlavajra of 
Vikramaśila Monastery, the major tantric centre in northern India at 
the time, who then established the Vikramaśila lineage of transmis-
sion.14 When invasions by the Turks, more precisely armies of the Is-
lamic Ghaznavid kingdom, threatened Vikramaśila soon after the turn 
10  rob Linrothe, Ruthless Compassion: Wrathful Deities in Early Indo-Tibetan Esoteric Bud-
dhist Art (London: Serindia), 64. The Mañjuśrīmūlakalpa was translated into Chinese by 
Amoghavajra in the 8th century (ibid. 65).
11  Ibid., 27; 167–168, Fig. 148–150.
12  Bulcsu Siklós, The Vajrabhairava Tantras: Tibetan and Mongolian Versions. English Transla-
tion and Annotations. General Presentations of the Classes of Tantra, Captivating the Minds of 
the Fortunate Ones, trans. M. J. Boord and Losang Norbu Tronawa (Dharamsala: Library of 
Tibetan Works and Archives,1996), 5.
13  Ibid., 8, refers to Alex Wayman, Chanting the Names of Mañjuśrī: The Mañjuśrī-nāma-
saṃgīti (Boston & London: Shambhala, 1985), 83, who critically notes that this might be a 
later interpolation to the original text.
14  Ibid., 10.
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Fig. 8: Bhairava as the terrifying aspect of Śiva, Gaurīśankara Temple, Chamba, 
India. © G. Kozicz.
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43
of the first millennium, rites of Vajrabhairava were performed to repel 
the invaders. As the 17th-century Tibetan historian Tārānātha notes, 
»a storm rose up and a mysterious band of black men emerged from 
the clouds, stabbing the Türk soldiers with daggers«.15 Similarly, the 
Tibetan tantric practitioner Nup Sangye Yeshe successfully »applied 
Yamāntaka rites to defend against and subjugate his anti-Buddhist ri-
vals« in the tenth century.16  Apparently, tantric ritual which had been 
a matter of personal practice in meditation was applied against external 
threats in India and beyond. rites and magic were then regularly used 
in religious and also political conflicts, and this would continue in the 
centuries to follow.
In 1264, at a time when the Mongol Yuan dynasty was firmly estab-
lished in China, Kublai Khan designated Chögyal Phagpa (1235–1280) 
of the Sakya school of Tibetan Buddhism as his spiritual advisor. This 
is how the Yamāntaka category of deities entered the religious stage in 
the Chinese heartlands. The ‘Ender of Death’ and wrathful form of the 
Bodhisattva of Wisdom was a major tutelary deity or yidam (Tib. yi 
dam) of the Sakya Order of Tibetan Buddhism. By the 13th century, 
Chinese Buddhism had very well accepted the concept of the various 
hells and King Yama as their lord and judge, but it almost completely 
rejected tantric concepts that were reflected in visually explicit art. By 
contrast, however, the wrathful depiction of fierce deities, Vajrabhaira-
va in particular, matched the self-perception of the Khan and his army 
as warriors of the steppes conquering the world. A woven tapestry (kesi) 
of a Vajrabhairava mandala probably produced by an imperial work-
shop in Hangzhou provides a stunning testimony to the significance of 
the practice of the Vajrabhairava tantra at the Yuan court (Fig. 9).17 In 
contrast, tantric Buddhism continuously faced great scepticism among 
the broader society in China.
15  Siklós, Vajrabhairava Tantras, 10.
16  Bryan J. Cuevas, »The Politics of Magical Warfare,« in Faith and Empire: Art and Politics in 
Tibetan Buddhism, ed. Karl Debreczeny (New York: rubin Museum of Art, 2019), 172–174.
17  The MET tapestry is the largest of its kind from the Yuan Dynasty and has been recently 
dated to 1329 by Tsangwa Gendun Tenpa (2019: 118–122). See also James C.Y. Watt and Anne 
E. Wardwell, When Silk Was Gold: Central Asian and Chinese Textiles (New York: The Metro-
politan Museum of Art, 1997), 95–100.
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44
Fig. 9: Vajrabhairava mandala, woven silk tapestry, c. 1330–1332 (Yuan dynasty), 
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, accession no. 1992.54. (public domain), 
https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/37614.
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When the Yuan Dynasty was overthrown in the middle of the 14th 
century, the religious and political power of the Sakya collapsed immedi-
ately. Although the succeeding Ming Dynasty showed continuous inter-
ests in Tibetan Buddhism and maintained contacts with various Tibetan 
schools and religious authorities, Buddhism lost its status as a state reli-
gion and faced harsh criticism and even iconoclasm, particularly by Con-
fucian scholars and Daoist priests, into the middle of the 16th century.18 
Vajrabhairava and the Manchu Emperors
The situation changed with the invasion of the Manchus and the es-
tablishment of the Qing Dynasty with Beijing as its capital in the mid-
dle of the 17th century. The Manchu leaders particularly popularised 
Mañjuśrī and Vajrabhairava for two reasons. The first reason appears 
simply phonetic. The two first syllables of Mañjuśrī are phonetically 
identical to Manchu.19 It could easily be used by the Manchus to legiti-
mise their rule over China by relating themselves to the Bodhisattva of 
Wisdom, the long-established Buddhist state protector. Since the Yuan 
dynasty, emperors of China identified themselves as reincarnations of 
Mañjuśrī. Considered an embodiment of the Mañjuśrī, the Qing em-
perors would incorporate also the wrathful manifestations of that Bo-
dhisattva, including the Conqueror of Death with his ability to carry 
out ultimate judgement. It is hardly possible to imagine a better choice 
of religious authorisation for kingship. religious legitimisation, howev-
er, had to be confirmed by an established religious authority–which di-
rectly takes us to the second reason that favoured the rise of the cult of 
Vajrabhairava: The Fifth Dalai Lama and highest authority of the Gelug 
order of Tibetan Buddhism addressed Hong Taiji (r. 1626–1643), the 
first emperor of the Qing dynasty, as »Mañjughoṣa-emperor«.20 The 
18  Karl Debreczeny, »In the Shadow of the Khan: Tibetan Buddhist and Political Legitima-
tion in the Ming Dynasty,« in Faith and Empire: Art and Politics in Tibetan Buddhism, ed. Karl 
Debreczeny (New York: rubin Museum of Art, 2019), 148.
19  Siklós, Vajrabhairava Tantras, 14–15.
20  Wen-Shing Chou, »Bodhisattva Emperors of the Manchu Qing Dynasty,« in Faith and 
Empire: Art and Politics in Tibetan Buddhism, ed. Karl Debreczeny (New York: rubin Museum 
of Art, 2019),191.
P O L I G r A F I
46
founder of the order, Tsongkhapa Lozang Drakpa (1357–1419), had 
already been recognised as a reincarnation of Mañjuśrī, and the Vajrab-
hairava tantra became one of that order’s three fundamental teachings 
(Fig. 10). 
The veneration of Mañjuśrī and Wutai Shan as a pilgrimage site 
reached a highpoint under the most powerful Qing emperor, Qianlong. 
Although he was also supporting Confucianism, he strongly propagat-
ed Buddhism, had new Buddhist temples constructed, and stimulated 
the production of Tibetan Buddhist art. 
The multi-ethnic and multi-cultural Manchu empire covered a vast 
portion of East Asia. Although Qianlong succeeded in stabilising the 
state using military force, he also followed the tradition of securing the 
empire through metaphysical measures. To the west of the Forbidden 
City in Beijing, within the Palace precinct, he built the Shanyin Dian 
(Hall of Good Causes) and dedicated it to Yamāntaka Vajrabhairava in 
1751.21 Enshrining a large statue of Vajrabhairava, the temple stands 
on an islet overlooking the imperial park and the palace. Moreover, the 
grid-based plan of Beijing can be equated with the layout of a Vajrab-
hairava mandala.22  
Perhaps even more important than the statue is the mandala painted 
in the dome and covering its entire space (Fig. 11). The significance of 
the ceiling is the cosmic notion that comes with the round, domical 
shape and the vertical axis of the temple (axis mundi) that coincides 
with its apex. The ceiling is exclusively dedicated to Vajrabhairava as the 
main deity of the temple, which is itself at the very centre of a protec-
tive »hidden (or secret)« urban-scale mandala that was superimposed 
with the urban fabrics of the imperial city.
In the end, however, these efforts did not save the empire from com-
ing to an end in 1911 following years of internal turmoil and the con-
tinuous external pressure from the colonial powers. Three years later, 
Word War I broke out, and the events around the German trading 
21  Siklós, Vajrabhairava Tantras, 15. See also Esther Bianchi »Protecting Beijing: The Tibetan 
Image of Yamāntaka-Vajrabhairava in Late Imperial and republican China,« in Images of Tibet 
in the 19th and 20th Centuries, Vol. 1, ed. Monica Esposito (Paris: EFEO, coll. Études théma-
tiques, 2008), 340.
22  Siklós, Vajrabhairava Tantras, 15; Bianchi, »Protecting Beijing,« 329.
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port of Qingdao became the preface of the history of the Skušek col-
lection. Involved in the battle of Qingdao was the Austrian-Hungarian 
navy vessel Kaiserin Elisabeth by which Ivan Skušek had travelled to 
the China. He was not on board when the battle began but among 
a group of officers and soldiers who had been ordered to stay at the 
Austro-Hungarian trading post at Tianjin where he was then practically 
stranded.23
23  For a summary of the events around the battle of Qingdao and the vessel Kaiserin Elisa-
beth see Gerd Kaminski, »Arthur von rosthorn, Österreich, China und der 1. Weltkrieg,« in 
China Report 166 (Vienna: ÖGCF, 2014), 17-20.
Fig. 10: Vajrabhairava and Vajravetālī to the proper right of the Buddha’s head, 
mural inside the main niche of the Gelugpa White Temple of Hunder in Nubra, 
India. © G. Kozicz.
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48
Fig. 11: Mandala of Vajabhairava in the centre of the dome, Shanyin Dian, Beijing. 
© r. Linrothe/Northwestern University Libraries.24
The Boxers and the God of War
The circumstances of Ivan Skušek’s acquisition of the Vajrabhairava 
sculpture are unknown. While Qing-dynasty sculptures of Vajrabhaira-
va are not rare, it is still remarkable that this piece found its way to the 
home of the Skušek couple in Ljubljana. This sculpture displays more 
than just refined craftsmanship. It represents the zenith of Tibetan 
tantric Buddhism in China. It resonates with the long history of Bud-
dhist theology, its interplay with politics and its application in conflicts 
during epochs that saw some of the largest empires in human history. 
That history however, has so far been mostly linked to the imperial 
court and the aristocratic upper class.
24  See also rob Linrothe Image Collection, North Western University Libraries, https://
dc.library.northwestern.edu/items/f8a9e6b2-c3ff-4ad1-b4aa-9c0cbd693d78.
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This takes us back to the initial question:  How should we inter-
pret the configuration on the dresser? What might have been Tsuneko 
Kondō-Kawase’s intention? To answer this question we might have a 
look at her life story. She came to Northeast China–the region where 
the Manchus had their ancestral roots–in around 1905. Although she 
officially declared her family to be followers of Shinto, Japan’s indig-
enous religion, in her certificate of marriage,25 one has to keep in mind 
that regular visits to Buddhist temples and even participation in Bud-
dhist ceremonies were customary for all Japanese people.26 Since she 
had left Japan at an early age, these temples in Manchuria must have 
provided the major visual source that shaped her idea of a Buddhist 
sacred space.  
To maintain their cultural roots, the family probably visited and 
sought service for auspicious festivities at Buddhist temples that were 
either built or renovated by order of the Qing emperors. One temple 
of interest near Mukden (modern-day Shenyang), the former capital 
of the Manchus, was dedicated to Guan Yu, the Han Chinese legend-
ary general and God of War whom the Manchus incorporated into 
their ideology and established as a state protector of the Qing. Guan 
Yu was related, if not conflated, with the yidams of the Gelug order–
in particular with Yamāntaka.27 It is exactly this conflation that finally 
created a link between the religious history of the God of War and the 
circumstances whereby the majority of the objects now in the Skušek 
collection first became available on the art market. 
The Boxer rebellion that broke out in China in 1899 eventually 
led to the extensive looting and demolitions of aristocratic buildings in 
Beijing by the foreign armies in the aftermath of the Boxers’ defeat. A 
report by Paula von rosthorn (1873–1967) sheds light on a so-far over-
looked aspect of this traumatic moment in Chinese history–a note that 
is most relevant to the current discussion. Paula was the wife of Arthur 
25  Poročni list, Archdiocesan Ordinariate in Ljubljana, St. Nicholas Cathedral, vol. 1927, p. 
137, no. 9.
26  Document from the personal archive of Janez Lombergar, the great-nephew of Ivan Skušek jr. 
27  Bianchi »Protecting Beijing,« 344, fn. 67 referring to Xiangyun Wang, »Tibetan Buddhism 
at the Court of Qing. The Life and Work of lCang-skya rol-pa’i rdo-rje (1717–1786)« (PhD 
diss., Boston: Harvard University 1995), 137–139, 315–316.
P O L I G r A F I
50
von rosthorn (1862–1945), then Diplomat at the Austro-Hungarian 
embassy in Beijing. Paula von rosthorn had accompanied her husband, 
who had studied Chinese literature at Cambridge University before en-
tering the imperial diplomatic service in Vienna from where he was 
assigned to the position in China. The beginning of her journal states: 
»Sie [Die geheime Gesellschaft der Boxer] gewann rasch eine große 
Verbreitung, weil die Führer versicherten im Besitze von überirdis-
chen Kräften zu sein und jedem, der sich der Bewegung anschließen 
würde, den Schutz des Kriegsgottes versprachen, der ihn für Schuß- 
und Stichwunden unverwundbar machen würde. Es waren Exerzitien 
vorgeschrieben, welche durch heftige rhytmische Bewegungen bei den 
betreffenden Individuen eine Art hypnotischen Zustandes erregten, der 
den Zuschauern stets als Einwirken höherer Mächte erklärt wurde.«28 
Paula von rosthorn explains that the successful spread of the Boxer 
Movement was due to the claim by their leaders that they had super-
natural powers and the promise that all followers would be protected 
by the God of War and become invulnerable to bullets and swords. 
She further mentions compulsory rites that included wild, rhythmic 
body movements–like wild dances–that generated a hypnotic state of 
mind.29 We cannot say which God of War she refers to. The mention 
of the rites including frantic dances and a kind of state of ecstasy, how-
ever, reflected a borrowing from Tibetan Buddhist Cham dances rather 
than Confucian or Daoist practices. We may assume that the Boxers 
created a fusion of ritual practices from several cultural strata to stand 
up against the colonial powers and the increasing influence of Christian 
missionaries. It would be only natural if they employed a conflation 
of Yamāntaka-Vajrabhairava and Guan Yu to enhance the impact of 
their propaganda and stabilise the alliance between the various parties 
that joined the movement. But first of all, such rites should motivate 
28  Paula von rosthorn, Peking 1900, ed. Alexander Pechmann (Vienna: Böhlau, 2001), 21.
29  We assume that the observations are widely accurate as the whole book, which is practi-
cally a journal, provides  a precise documentation of the events and is free of colonial and 
anti-Chinese prejudice. Although the von rosthorns both joined the defence forces of the 
diplomatic quarter during the besiege by the Boxers, they were full of admiration of Chinese 
culture and the people. After her return to Vienna, Paula von rosthorn was the first woman to 
receive the medal of honour for bravery in combat by the Emperor (Kaiser) Franz Joseph.
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51
and prepare their followers for battle.  It is possible that the beginning 
of the Boxer rebellion was the moment when the concept of tantric 
Buddhist ritual–perhaps in a heavily modified form–reached also the 
non-Buddhist members of the Chinese society. Paula von rosthorn’s 
comments establishes a link between the rituals of the Boxers and the 
long tradition of wrathful deities. Her comment is a sketch that super-
imposes the aforementioned magical performances in Buddhist ritu-
als with the actual fighting on the battleground. religious goals like 
purification, enlightenment and nirvana, and scenarios of afterlife and 
rebirth were pushed into the background while survival and victory 
in times of conflicts despite their purely mundane nature became the 
most urgent. And even though the momentum was short-lived and the 
Boxer Movement failed, the memory of the rites must have lingered at 
least for a while. Even a young girl like Tsuneko Kondō-Kawase could 
have hardly been unaware of the growing popularity and significance of 
these deities as reflections of the precarious socio-political situations in 
both China and East Asia in the beginning of the 20th century. 
At this point, mention must be made of two minor sculptures 
among the set on the dresser–Vajrapani and Begtse30 (Fig. 12). Though 
significantly smaller than the Vajrabhairava couple, these two deities 
stand out from the set because of their wrathful appearance. Vajrapani’s 
relevance to the present discussion derives from his function as a state 
protector of the Mongol-Yuan dynasty. Begtse, who widely shares his 
physical features with Vajrapani, is the Mongolian Buddhist warrior 
deity. Placed centrally in front of Vajrabhairava, they establish a triadic 
configuration with a clear message: protection, victory in warfare and 
the destruction of obstacles. Thus, the configuration on the dresser pre-
sents a long religious tradition and at the same time pictures the socio-
cultural climate of the period from the late 19th century to the end of 
the Qing dynasty.
30  Begtse is not listed on any inventory list. This is not surprising because in the past this deity 
was often mislabelled as Vajrapani or some other protector or yidam. However, except for that 
one photograph, no evidence of this figure is found in the archives and neither is it among the 
pieces of the present collection in the Slovene Ethnographic Museum. 
P O L I G r A F I
52
Fig. 12: Begtse holding his scorpion handle sword in front of Vajrabhairava. © 
Photographic archive of the Slovene Ethnographic Museum.
The Mirror
Three archival photographs show the collection presented in differ-
ent flats and different spatial settings.31 Although in one case the view is 
partly blocked, the configuration seems always the same: Vajrabhairava 
and Vajravetālī claim the centre. Whether or not such a consistency 
hints at an ideological concept remains a matter of speculation at pre-
sent. However, the arrangement of the other figures changes. The pho-
tographs are not clear enough to provide all details, but some of the 
larger Buddhas and one multi-armed Bodhisattva can still be identified 
with certainty. They can be found in different positions in the different 
places where they were presented. Only the wrathful couple appears in 
31  See e.g. Tina Berdajs, »retracing the Footsteps: Analysis of the Skušek Collection,« in 
Asian Studies 9, no. 3 (2021): 157, Fig. 2, https://doi.org/10.4312/as.2021.9.3.141-166.
P R E S E N T I N G ,  ( R E ) C O N S T R U C T I N G  A N D  A R R A N G I N G  M E D I E V A L  A R T E F A C T S 
53
the same position throughout the history of this part of the Skušek col-
lection–even when Tsuneko Kondō-Kawase became a widow. 
A comparison of the archival documents testifies that the Vajrab-
hairava sculpture was not the only constant element in this setting. The 
second unchanged component was the dresser itself, which was always 
used to display the collection of the metalwork pieces in all the pho-
tographs. Obviously the Skušeks considered it ideal for practical and 
aesthetic reasons, but we might ask again: Was there a specific intention 
behind this choice? The frontal face of the main body of the dresser dis-
plays fine woodcarvings of Daoist motifs. Although the carvings attract 
the viewer’s attention, the focus is also directed to the mirror. Besides 
the documentary, the dresser can be seen in at least four archival pho-
tographs. In two of them the mirror is visible, while in the other two 
the frame is covered by a textile. The reason for the cover was that the 
dresser had been shipped to Europe without the mirror. Following the 
installation of the mirror, the textile was removed.32 
In general, the idea of placing the metalwork pieces in front of a 
mirror–or placing a mirror behind them–might have purely represen-
tational reasons. However, if viewed from a Buddhist perspective, the 
broader Yama-Yamāntaka context stimulates an alternative interpre-
tation related to Yama’s function as a judge and king of the under-
world and hell. In most cases, the attributes of Buddhist deities reflect 
a mental process, for example the sword of Mañjuśrī cutting the roots 
of ignorance and duality. In addition, a weapon may also directly refer 
to a certain action, such as Yama Dharmarāja’ club representing the 
physical action of crushing an opponent. While this destructive qual-
ity is well presented in Tibetan Buddhist art, the iconography of Yama 
Dharmarāja seems to lack attributes that express his function as a judge. 
To compensate that, his entourage of demonic creatures and wardens of 
the underworld were employed. While these terrifying creatures again 
display punishment in a vivid manner, they may also signify the mo-
ment of final judgement through specific hand-held objects and weap-
ons–in this case a pair of dice and a mirror (Fig. 13a/b).
32  The textile was recently identified by Tina Berdajs in the storage room of the SEM. It has 
never been inventoried.
P O L I G r A F I
54
 Fig. 13a: Three companions of the Buddhist Yama Dharmarāja–the left one holding 
two dices, the central one piercing the head of a man, and the right one holding a 
mirror, Sakya Temple of Skidmang, Upper Ladakh, 16th–17th century.  
© Q. Devers.
Fig. 13b: The three companions. Line drawing © G. Kozicz.
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55
A thangka (scroll painting) of the Bhavacakra (Wheel of Life) now at 
the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts depicts a pot-bellied Yama holding a 
mirror and presiding over hell.33 A series of hanging scrolls showing the 
Ten Kings of Hell painted by Lu Xinzhong sheds light on the role of 
the mirror in the Chinese vision of hell in the 12th century34 (Fig. 14). 
There, Yama appears as a Confucian official who oversees the judge-
ment of those entering the sphere of the underworld. Three wardens 
of hell assist him as they force two men begging for mercy in front of a 
large round mirror. The mirror symbolises the truth as it will show the 
true nature of the indicted.
The conception is certainly based on the Buddhist model but be-
speaks a purely Chinese context. It is clearly pedagogical rather than 
ideological in nature. The narrative and visual representations of this 
scene became well-known outside the Buddhist context and much ac-
cepted by non-Buddhist communities in China at the time, having 
even found their way to Japan. Either in China or already in Japan, 
Tsuneko Kondō-Kawase most likely came across this tradition and the 
meaning of the mirror associated with truth and judgement. The deci-
sive moment when one faces his or her deeds must have been one of the 
crucial points of the narrative.
At its core is the connection between the mirror and Yama 
Dharmarāja. The placement of Yamāntaka-Vajrabhairava on the dresser 
might be understood as a reference to this narrative. This is admitted-
ly hypothetical. Mirrors are devices of multifaceted symbolism in the 
East Asian religious context.35 What appears to be a rather insignificant 
background element to us nowadays might have conveyed a clear mes-
sage to a contemporaneous Buddhist practitioner from East Asia.
33  See Jeffrey Durham and John Henry rice, Awaken: A Tibetan Buddhist Journey Toward 
Enlightenment (richmond: Virginia Museum of Fine Art, 2019), 13 and 92, Cat. No. 4 and 
Fig. 13. The thangka is also accessible on the Himalayan Art resources Website: https://www.
himalayanart.org/items/85113/images/primary#-2363,-4178,5343,-145.
34  For a full set of the Ten Kings of Hell, see the Nara National Museum website: https://
www.narahaku.go.jp/english/collection/1013-0.html.
35  See e.g. Gina Barnes, »Chokkomon and the ‘Art of Death’,« East Asia Journal 1, no. 2 
(2003): 45–67; Schuyler Cammann, »The ‘TLV’ pattern on cosmic mirrors of the Han dy-
nasty,« Journal of the American Oriental Society 68, no. 4 (1948): 159–167.
P O L I G r A F I
56
Fig. 14. Yama and mirror, from Lu Xinzhong, Ten Kings of Hell series, 13th century 
(Southern Song dynasty), China. Nara National Museum, https://commons.
wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ten_Kings_of_Hell,_Yanluo_Wang_(Enra_%C5%8C)_by_
Lu_Xinzhong.jpg (CC BY 4.0).
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57
For the time being we have no evidence that the mirror was part of 
Tsuneko Kondō-Kawase’s original concept of the presentation. We do 
not know the specific intentions behind her choice of order, but we 
can recreate a historical context within which it is possible to interpret 
the arrangement on the dresser from different perspectives. One day, if 
we learn more about her life, we might get a better idea which of the 
perspective had been hers. Ultimately, the connection between the mir-
ror and the arrangement of the sculptures was lost when the collection 
was moved first to the Goričane Museum outside Ljubljana in 1963 
and later to the Slovene Ethnographic Museum where the objects were 
separated. 
The Vajrabhairava-Vajravetālī became part of the Tibetan display 
in the permanent exhibition, while the dresser was disassembled and 
taken into storage. The significance of the sculpture for the Skušeks and 
their visitors can only be reconstructed through an understanding of 
the context in which it was displayed, a context which has only survived 
in archival photographs and a documentary film.
Acknowledgements
We are most thankful to the reviewers for their constructive com-
ments and the Slovene Ethnographic Museum Ljubljana for providing 
access to their collections. This study was funded in whole or in part by 
the Austrian Science Fund (FWF) Grant I6252 (hosted by the Institute 
of Architecture and Media, Graz University of Technology). 
We are grateful to rob Linrothe and Quentin Devers for providing 
their images for this article.
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