Page 25 - 2020 Sept 22 Himalayin and Indian Works of Art Sotheby's NYC Asia Week

9/2/2020 Indian, Himalayan & Southeast Asian Works of Art | Sotheby's

Indian, Hi ma layan & Southeast Asian Works of Art
New York |22 Sep 2020 | 12:00 PM EDT

Lot 316

A COPPE R ALLOY FIGURE OF TARA WITH SILVER INLAY, KASHMIR, 9TH/10TH CENTURY
Estimate: 30,000 - 50,000 USD

PROPERTY FROM AN IMPORTANT NORTH AMERICAN COLLECTION
A COPPER ALLOY FIGURE OF TARA WITH SILVER INLAY
KASHMIR, 9TH/10TH CENTURY

Height 7 ½ in. (19 cm)

Himalayan Art Resources item no. 13749.

Provenance
Henry Spencers and Son Auctioneers, The Square, Retford, January 1996
Paul M Peters Fine Art Ltd, Harrogate, North Yorkshire
John Nicholson's, Haslemere, Surrey, April 18, 2018, lot 141

Catalogue Note
The goddess is identified as Tara by the akshamala in the right hand and the padma flower growing from the lotus pedestal, with
the stem held in the left hand. Kashmir Buddhist sculptures depicting female deities are rare, with the vast majority of statues
portraying the Buddha in various manifestations. Common stylistic features in both Hindu and Buddhist female sculptures include
the tight-fitting upper garment cut to reveal the navel, the floor length diaphanous lower garment, and the beaded girdle with
pendant bells, cf. a Kashmir four-armed Dhanada Tara dating to the second half of the tenth century in John Siudmak, The Hindu-
Buddhist Sculpture of Ancient Kashmir and its Influences, Leiden and Boston, 2013, p. 483, pl. 230. Although the Dhanada Tara
features the same costume and girdle type, the modelling and jewelry is exaggerated compared with the subtle movement and
restrained detail of the present example, evidence of an earlier date for this Tara of ninth or early tenth century. The patina of the

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