Page 6 - Chinese Art Bonhams San Francisco December 18, 2017

Barbara Adams at home in Kathmandu, c.2012

Once the royal consort of Prince Basundhara of Nepal, Barbara Adams The following Buddhist art objects from Barbara’s home in Washington
(1931-2016) was a spirited philanthropist, who used her celebrity in D.C. are being sold to benefit the Barbara Adams Trust. Close friends
Nepal to champion social and political reforms. believe she likely collected these items in Nepal in the 1970s/80s,
whereafter they were kept in her Washington DC home. The Himalayan
Meeting the prince on her first visit to Nepal in 1961, she soon Cataract Project, which seeks to develop sustainable eye care
accompanied him on all official visits outside of the palace. In 1963, infrastructure in the Himalayas, is a beneficiary of the Barbara Adams
she became the first authorized ‘foreigner’ to enter the kingdom of Trust and will receive proceeds from the sale of these art objects.
Mustang (which although part of Nepal retained a separate monarchy).
With the prince, she established Nepal’s first international travel
agency. Residing in Nepal for the majority of five decades, Barbara
advocated for social justice, at times being a staunch critic of its former
monarchy and subsequent democracy on issues of corruption, human
rights, and services for the underprivileged.

Barbara funded a volunteer program designed to steer young Nepalis
to stay in Nepal and become involved in local development. In 2011, The Himalayan Cataract Project (HCP) works to overcome barriers
she launched the Barbara Peace Foundation, which has built dozens impeding delivery of eye care to underserved, needlessly blind people
of houses for Nepal’s poorest, and helped Dalit (‘untouchable’) families in the developing world. Our efforts are focused on eradicating
to buy land and establish self-sustaining communities. preventable and curable blindness through high-quality care,
training of local personnel and establishment of world-class eye care
infrastructure where most needed. At the core of the HCP’s success
is its long-standing, trusted partnership with the Tilganga Institute of
Ophthalmology, based in Kathmandu, Nepal.
(See www.cureblindness.org)

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