Page 106 - Christie's Inidian and HImalayan Works of Art, March 2019

PROPERTY FROM THE ESTATE OF H. SHABAS
673
A REPOUSSE GILT-BRONZE FIGURE OF TARA
INNER MONGOLIA OR CHINA, LATE 18TH CENTURY
15Ω in. (39.4 cm.) high
$15,000-20,000

PROVENANCE
Private collection, California, acquired in Tianjin in 1928-29
Thence by descent
This elegant seated fgure of Tara exhibits many
characteristics common to Buddhist imagery from the
Qianlong period (1736-1795), made in the lamaist workshops
in and around Beijing.
In the latter half of Qianlong’s reign, when the construction
of Buddhist temples and the associated Buddhist images
reached its apogee, the use of repoussé, where thin metals
are beaten rather than cast, became more prevalent in an
efort to save materials and time. The artisans of the period
quickly mastered the process, and details such as the
ornately worked crown and fowers at the shoulders in the
present fgure demonstrate the mastery of the technique.
Compare the bodily proportions, the repoussé details and
the treatment of the lotus base of the present work with a
Qianlong-period fgure of a bodhisattva sold at Christie’s
New York on 16 September 2016, lot 1231.
Himalayan Art Resources (himalayanart.org), item no. 24500.

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