SWAT VALLEY OR KASHMIR, CIRCA 7TH CENTURY

Details

A rare bronze plaque of Tara
Swat Valley or Kashmir, circa 7th century
Well-cast with swelling hips and holding a lotus stalk in her left hand, wearing a long diaphanous dhoti and a sash draped across her shoulders and billowing to the sides, necklaces and armlets, her face with a benign expression and her three eyes inlaid in silver, her hair gathered in an elaborate topknot, with a deep chocolate brown patina
7 5/8 in. (19.6 cm.) high

Provenance

Spink and Son, Ltd., 1996

Literature

Spink, Legacies of Ancient Civilisations: A Selection of Indian and Southeast Asian Works of Art, 1996, lot 11.

Lot Essay

This is very rare plaque executed with gracefully flowing lines and great refinement. It likely originally formed part of a triad.
Compare with a related figure with similar treatment of the drapery, in U. von Schroeder, Indo-Tibetan Bronzes, 1983, fig. 9G, p. 91.

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