Page 28 - Indian, Himalaya and Asian Art Bonhams Setp 2015

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A COPPER ALLOY FIGURE OF SYAMATARA
Tibet, Pala style, circa 12th century
Seated in royal ease with a lotus rising to support her left foot, she displays the gesture of
warding while two fecund lotuses mature by her shoulders, jewelry and diaphanous garments
cover her supple body as she smiles reassuringly.
5 1/4 in. (13.2 cm) high
$100,000 - 150,000

西藏 帕拉風格 約十二世紀 綠度母銅像

Referenced
HAR - himalayanart.org/items/33012

Exhibited
Harvard University Art Museum, Cambridge, MA 2002—2008
Fitchburg Art Museum, Fitchburg, MA 2008—2015

Provenance
Private West Coast Collection, acquired 1980s
Collection FKH, USA

In fact, these two Tibetan Taras not only surpass many Northeastern Indian bronzes, but their
faces and physiognomy - with their sumptuous waists and pert breasts - so closely adhere
to the Pala emphasis on grace and femininity that at least one of the following extrapolations
can be made. These figures were produced while the Pala monasteries were still active, thus
preceding other copies that stray further from Pala idioms.3 These figures were produced
under or after the close instruction of Northeastern Indian masters. These figures were
produced by Northeastern Indian craftsmen working in Tibet – their divergence from Pala
prototypes resulting from changes in patronage, material, and/or casting conditions. As such,
these two sculptures are fine examples attesting to the transmission and survival of Buddhist
sculptural traditions from India to Tibet.

Out of this phase of ‘apprenticeship’ of Northeastern India, Tibetan sculpture matured to
develop its own distinct styles. Yet the Pala legacy lingered and reverberated throughout
Tibetan history, the Indian arhats and mahasiddas remaining key figures in all lineages. In the
18th century, the Pala style was introduced and revitalized at the Chinese court. A devout
Gelugpa Buddhist, the Qianlong emperor collected and reproduced Pala and Tibetan Pala-
style bronzes. The Qing Palace Collection contains at least sixteen Pala 10th-12th century
examples and sixteen Tibetan Pala-style 12th-13th century bronzes.4 From these prototypes,
the emperor commissioned numerous copies, ushering in a sub-school of Qing Buddhist
bronzes known as Pala Revival.5

1. See Heller, Tibetan Art, Milan, 1999, pp. 124-6.
2. Pal, Indian Sculpture, Los Angeles, 1988, pp. 206 & 208-9, nos 102 & 104.
3. Contrast against the following 13th-century examples published in: Uhlig, On the Path
to Enlightenment, Zurich, 1995, p. 142, no. 89; Weldon, The Sculptural Heritage of Tibet,
London, 1999, p. 56, fig. 19; Zangchuan fojiao zaoxiang-Gugong bowuyuan cang wenwu
zhenpin quanji, Hong Kong, 2008, p. 129, no. 123.
4. For Pala examples, see Zangchuan fojiao zaoxiang-Gugong bowuyuan cang wenwu zhenpin
quanji , Hong Kong, 2008, pp. 43-59, nos 42-57; for Tibet Pala-style examples, see ibid., pp.
110-3, 115-23, 128-9, & 131-2, nos 105-8, 105-17, 122-3, & 125-6.
5. See examples, ibid., pp. 242, 245 & 253-7, nos 231, 234, & 242-6.

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