Undated, Tibet, Simhamukha, gilt metal (with turquoise and pigments), private collection, photo on HAR

As a main tantric deity, lion-headed Simhamukha is a wrathful manifestation of Padmasambhava, an emanation of Buddha, and a wisdom dakini. She usually stands with one leg in the air, brandishing a flaying knife in her right hand, holding a skull cup in the other at heart level, adorned with a skull crown, a garland of severed heads, bone jewellery, and sometimes a celestial scarf. She has flaming hair, a third eye, bared fangs, a curled tongue, blazing nostrils, and wears a tiger skin loin cloth and sometimes a lion skin on her back. The above  stands on a female victim and has a human hide on her shoulders. Her ritual staff is missing.

1601-1800, Tibet, Simhamukha (labelled ‘dakini’), gilt bronze, at the Science Museum in London (UK).

This one has a human hide on top of her tiger skin dhoti and stands on a sea of blood. She is adorned with Chinese-style accessories, including a dharma wheel cross-belt and a scarf with serpentine ends.

18th century, Tibet, Simhamukha, copper alloy with inlays (turquoise and coral), pigments, at the Rubin Museum of Art in New York (USA).

An example with a snake around her neck, meant to be used as a sacred cord.