An Important Gilt Bronze Figure of Tara
Nepal, 11th/12th Century
Gracefully and powerfully modeled standing in Tribhanga, her right hand lowered and holding a lotus bud and left hand holding the stem of a lotus flower rising to her shoulder, wearing a diaphanous dhoti delicately draped across her chest and finely delineated, secured with a bejeweled sash at the waist and incised with bands of floral and geometric patterns below, foliate armlets and necklace inset with semiprecious stones, a sash extending down from her shoulder and flaring to her left side, her face with a serene expression and downcast eyes flanked by large earrings and curly tresses of hair spilling down over her shoulders, surmounted by an intricate tiara inset with semiprecious stones and with her hair gathered in two chignons at the side
21 5/8 in. (54.9 cm.) high
Details
- Title : An Important Gilt Bronze Figure of Tara
- Classification : Sculpture
- Medium : Gilt Bronze
- Country/ Geo-location : Nepal
- Period : 11th/12th Century
- Collection : Christies
- LOT : 65
- Pre-Lot Text : Property of a Private Asian Collector
- Lot Essay : Tara, here in her form as the 'White Tara' bearing an open lotus blossom, is believed to be born from the eye of Avalokiteshvara. She represents compassion, transcendent knowledge and perfect purity. Early Nepalese bronze figures of this size and importance are extremely rare. Apart from the Dr. Albert Shelton collection at the Newark Museum, acquired in 1911, it is one of the earliest documented pieces of important Himalayan sculpture in a private collection prior to World War I, when it was published by Alice Getty in her seminal work on The Gods of Northern Buddhism in 1914 as part of the Henry H. Getty Collection. Compare to a gilt copper figure of Vasudhara in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, in P. Pal, Art of Nepal, 1985, p. 101, with similar bejeweled tiara, armlets and pendants. The voluptuous modeling is closely related and would suggest a similar circa 11th century date.
- Price realised : USD 358,000
- Estimate : USD 280,000 - USD 400,000
- Provenance : Henry H. Getty Collection (before 1914) *Bellerby Collection, 1956
- Literature : A. Getty, The Gods of Northern Buddhism, 1914, pl. XXXVIII (illustrated with later base and mandorla); *A. Getty, The Gods of Northern Buddhism, 1928 (Second Edition), pl. XXXVIII (illustrated with later base); *Berkeley Galleries London, The Art of Tibet, exhibition catalogue, January-February, 1946, cat. no. 49