Enquiry about object: 10500
Sino-Tibetan Gilded Bronze Figure of Tara
Sino-Tibet 17th-18th century
height: 16.8cm, width: 12.3cm, depth: 8.1cm, weight: 1,180g
Provenance
private collection, UK; Acquired from Paul Champkins Oriental Art, Dover Street, London, 2005
This beautiful image of Tara, the deity associated with compassion and wisdom, has been cast, chiselled and engraved from bronze or copper alloy, and then gilded with underling red monochrome.
She sits in dhyanasana, cross-legged on a beaded, double-lotus pedestal. Her right hand is in varadamudra (the gesture of charity) and her left hand is held in vitarkamudra (the gesture of debate and discussion).
A small socket on the upper left arm would have held a lotus bloom but this is long lost, as is often the case.
Her face with fine features has downcast eyes. A third eye has been cast to her forehead. There is a five-leaf tiara, floral earrings, and a high, multi-bun, blackened chignon which tilts to her right.
An eye is cast onto her open, right palm.
She is dressed in an ankle-length dhoti and is otherwise adorned in various sashes and jewels.
The base is open, the consecration plate no longer present.
The image is in fine condition.
References
Pal, P., Desire and Devotion: Art from India, Nepal, and Tibet in the John and Berthe Ford Collection, Philip Wilson Publishers, 2001.
Rubin Museum of Art, Collection Highlights: The Rubin Museum of Art, New York, Rubin Museum, 2014.
