Page 28 - Chinese Art Bonhams San Francisco December 18, 2017

PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE LAS VEGAS COLLECTION

835
A POLYCHROME AND PARCEL GILT METAL ALLOY REPOUSSÉ Though the current example actually appears to have been carefully
FIGURE OF WHITE TARA adorned in silver color paint, perhaps to better approximate the skin
Circa 1900 tone of White Tara, in general the appearance and construction of the
Possibly Mongolian, the skin covered in silver colored paint, her high piece compares well with earlier silver repoussé prototypes from the
chignon fronted by a separately cast crown above a peaceful face imperial collection. See Marilyn Rhie and Robert Thurman, A Shrine for
highlighted in pigments to her three eyes and mouth above her shapely Tibet: The Alice S. Kandell Collection (New York: Tibet House, 2009),
nude torso adorned in elaborate jewelry inlaid in colored glass or semi- specifically fig 34, p 39 for a silver and gilt figure of Amitayus dating to
precious cabochons, her right hand in proffering varadamudra while the third quarter of the 18th century.
her left is upheld in vitarkamudra, raised atop a simply rendered double
lotus plinth; the visvajra-incised base plate stamped CHINA enclosing See as well a gilt repoussé Maitreya figure with a base of similarly
offerings and relics. elegant simplicity described as ‘Qing; probably Dolonnor’ also from
18in (46cm) high the second half of the 18th century (op cit, no I-12, pp 72-73). Some
elements of how the face is rendered on that figure are reminiscent
$12,000 - 18,000 of the knowing expression on the present lot, features that Rhie et
al suggest have its origins in ‘the Khalkha Mongolian tradition of
Zanabazar’ (ibid).

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