.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
The present figure of Tara is identifiable by the akshamala rosary held in her right hand and the long lotus stem and flower sprouting along her left side. She stands upon a lotus base in the abhanga pose, subtly flexed at the hip. A light headscarf covers the back of Tara’s head, and lightly drapes over her proper left arm as it merges into a beaded garland that attaches to a suspended garter on each of her thighs. She is dressed in a form-fitting girdle top, and a long unpleated skirt which is only represented on the rear side of her legs. She is otherwise adorned with a heavy row of collar necklaces, and thick bracelets and anklets.
The figure is inscribed on the base deyadharm[o] ya[m] sīsīpo, or “This is the pious gift of Yī(or Sī)sīpa,” in the proto-Śāradā script used between 650 and 1000 AD before the Śāradā spready widely throughout Kashmir. Intriguingly, the donor’s name, Yī(or Sī)sīpa, is unrecognizable amongst known languages in the region. Like many Kashmiri images, the deep, lustrous patina of the present work suggests it was never buried or excavated, but rather had been brought out of Kashmir as a personal object during religious upheaval.
While the present figure can by stylistically related to many figures of Buddha and the bodhisattvas from the region, representations of female deities are comparatively rare. Of note, the present lot can be compared to a late tenth- early eleventh-century figure of Dhanada Tara, sold at Christie’s New York, 24 March 1995, lot 27, also published by U. von Schroeder in Indo-Tibetan Bronzes, Hong Kong, 1981, pp. 128-9, no. 21 E. The Dhanada Tara is likewise inscribed on the base “the pious gift of the worshipper Ujalaknata.” The two works are similarly modeled in a corset type tunic, which exposes the navel as it meets a belt at the hip embellished with jeweled ornaments. This type of cinched bodice can be found in much earlier sculpture works in the region, across mediums, including, for example, a seventh-century bronze figure of Prajnaparamita and a ninth-century black stone figure of Gadanari, both published by J. Siudmak in The Hindu-Buddhist Sculpture of Ancient Kashmir and its Influences, Leiden and Boston, 2013, p. 304, pl. 141 and p. 441, pl. 203.
The figure is inscribed on the base deyadharm[o] ya[m] sīsīpo, or “This is the pious gift of Yī(or Sī)sīpa,” in the proto-Śāradā script used between 650 and 1000 AD before the Śāradā spready widely throughout Kashmir. Intriguingly, the donor’s name, Yī(or Sī)sīpa, is unrecognizable amongst known languages in the region. Like many Kashmiri images, the deep, lustrous patina of the present work suggests it was never buried or excavated, but rather had been brought out of Kashmir as a personal object during religious upheaval.
While the present figure can by stylistically related to many figures of Buddha and the bodhisattvas from the region, representations of female deities are comparatively rare. Of note, the present lot can be compared to a late tenth- early eleventh-century figure of Dhanada Tara, sold at Christie’s New York, 24 March 1995, lot 27, also published by U. von Schroeder in Indo-Tibetan Bronzes, Hong Kong, 1981, pp. 128-9, no. 21 E. The Dhanada Tara is likewise inscribed on the base “the pious gift of the worshipper Ujalaknata.” The two works are similarly modeled in a corset type tunic, which exposes the navel as it meets a belt at the hip embellished with jeweled ornaments. This type of cinched bodice can be found in much earlier sculpture works in the region, across mediums, including, for example, a seventh-century bronze figure of Prajnaparamita and a ninth-century black stone figure of Gadanari, both published by J. Siudmak in The Hindu-Buddhist Sculpture of Ancient Kashmir and its Influences, Leiden and Boston, 2013, p. 304, pl. 141 and p. 441, pl. 203.