Page 26 - Bonhams Himalayan, Indian Art march 2015

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A parcel-gilt copper alloy figure of Green Tara
Tibet, 13th/14th century
Seated in royal ease, her gentle gaze rests on her left hand displaying the gesture of teaching
while fecund lotuses spring up beside her.
5 1/8 in. (13 cm) high
$10,000 - 15,000

The present lot is an elegant example of the early Pala-inspired sculpture of Tibet. The bolder
lotus lappets around the figure’s pedestal indicate a 13th-/14th-century copy by a Tibetan
craftsman, rather than a 12th-century East-Indian prototype. An example of the latter in the
National Palace Museum, Beijing is published in Gugong bowuyuan cang: wenwu zhenpin
quanji; 60: Zangchuan fojiao zaoxiang, Hong Kong, 2008, pp. 118, no. 113.

A closely related example in the Museum Rietberg is published in Uhlig, On the Path to
Enlightenment, Zurich, 1995, no. 89. Another, formerly in the Heeramaneck Collection sold at
Sotheby’s, New York, 20 & 21 September 1985, lot 122.

Referenced
HAR – himalayanart.org/image.cfm/41244.html

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