A vintage Tibetan Tantric carpet from the mid-20th century with a pictorial design of a flayed man. The macabre motif sits atop a deep blue field. Employed by Vajrayana Buddhists as seats of power during the practice of esoteric rites associated with protective deities. It shows a flayed man (Tibetan: g.yang gzhi) with "artery patterns" surrounded by his butchered bones, carefully arranged. The peculiar imagery depicted in these rugs symbolize the power of detachment from one's body, representing the ultimate achievement attainable by the advanced practitioners of Buddhist ritual meditation. Similar weavings were the subject of an exhibition at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York entitled 'Rugs and Ritual in Tibetan Buddhism' (October 7, 2010 - June 26, 2011). See: Jane Casey, Tantric Carpets from the Himalayas, London (Rossi and Rossi), 2008, p. 16-27. Nathalie Bazin e.a., Rituels tibétaines, Visions secrètes du Ve Dalai Lama, Paris 2002, p. 174-175, nrs. 152-154