Page 22 - Bonhams March 22 2022 Indian and Himalayan Art NYC

The celebrated ‘Cleveland Tara’ (fig.2)—a thangka of Green Tara in the Cleveland Museum of
Art (1970.156)—is popularly considered to be one of the finest paintings by a Newari artist
working in Tibet, and draws another stylistic parallel to the present Tara. Although different in
medium, the two Taras closely resemble each other in proportions and posture. Each goddess
is afforded a perfectly balanced soft torso, with rounded breasts and a sensuously tapered
waist. Each gently looks down, with her head tilting to the right while her upper body sways
slightly to the left. The blue lotuses held in their hands, with thin, pointy petals and a projecting
central bud, are strikingly similar, as are the circular earrings with beaded rims and the curly
locks falling on their shoulders. Both Taras also share the distinctive iconographic gesture of
offering salvation, in which the goddess extends her right hand forward at a semi-downturned
angle, as if to gently bless the head of a kneeling devotee. In the connoisseurship of Buddhist
art, such seemingly minor variations are important considerations for assessing the overall
emotional impact of a work and identifying masterpieces.

Fig.2
Green Tara
c.1260s
Central Tibet
Thangka; gum tempura, ink and gold on sized cotton
Painting: 52.4 x 43.2cm (20 5/8 x 17 in.);
Overall: 107 x 65 cm (42 1/8 x 25 9/16 in.)
The Cleveland Museum of Art
Purchase from the J.H Wade Fund by exchange
1970.156

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