Lot 12. A gilt copper alloy figure of Tara, Tibet, Densatil style, circa 14th century. Himalayan Art Resources item no.68457. 17 cm (6 3/4 in.) high. Est: HK$ 3,200,000 - HK$ 4,500,000. Sold for HK$ 4,002,500 (€ 427,846). © Bonhams 2001-2021.

Published: David Weldon and Jane Casey Singer, The Sculptural Heritage of Tibet: Buddhist Art in the Nyingjei Lam Collection, London, 1999, pp.110-1, pl.22.

Exhibited: The Sculptural Heritage of Tibet: Buddhist Art in the Nyingjei Lam Collection, Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, 6 October – 30 December 1999.
Arte Buddhista Tibetana: Dei e Demoni dell' Himalaya, Palazzo Bricherasio, Turin, 18 June – 19 September 2004.
Casting the Divine: Sculptures of the Nyingjei Lam Collection, Rubin Museum of Art, New York, 2 March 2012 – 11 February 2013.

Provenance: The Nyingjei Lam Collection 菩薩道收藏
On loan to the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, 1996–2005
On loan to the Rubin Museum of Art, New York, 2005–2019 (L2005.9.38).

Note: This elegant gilt bronze image of Tara is preserved in near-perfect condition, with the original consecration plate on the base undisturbed. The bronze is thickly gilded, richly adorned with inset semi-precious stones, and skilfully modelled with rounded forms, in line with the 14th-century aesthetic of the famed monastery of Densatil, in Central Tibet.

Close stylistic parallels can be drawn between the present work and a number of gilt bronze sculptures produced for Densatil Monastery by Newari craftsmen; Tara's hair is neatly arranged into a fan-shaped chignon bound into five vertical sections, each topped with a jewel. The same treatment appears on a renowned Parnashavari in the collection of Ann and Gilbert H. Kinney, originally placed on a tier dedicated to offering goddesses on a tashi gomang stupa at Densatil (see Czaja & Poser, Golden Visions of Densatil, New York, 2014, pp.120-1, no.24). This hairstyle is also sported by four offering goddesses on a Densatil plaque published in von Schroeder, Indo-Tibetan Bronzes, Hong Kong, 1981, p.431, no.113G.

Her lower garment, decorated with rows of single and clustered jewels divided by double raised lines (one beaded, the other smooth), is comparable to that of a bronze Mahamantranusarini held in the Museum Rietberg (Uhlig, On the Path to Enlightenment, Zurich, 1995, pp.162-3, no.107; identified as Ashtabhuja Tara). The two also share the same broad bangles, large round earrings with inset stones, and armbands with a five-jewelled triangular design secured by a beaded chain. On the base, the plump lotus petals are modelled into a quasi-teardrop shape, closely resembling those of a Densatil Akshobhya, also in the Museum Rietberg (see Czaja & Poser, op. cit., pp.130-1, no.28).

When discussing this bronze, Weldon and Casey Singer have also examined the many features indicating a Newari stylistic heritage and attributed it to 14th-century south-central Tibet, a region associated with the Densatil style (Weldon & Singer, The Sculptural Heritage of Tibet, London, 1999, pp.110-1, no.22).

Bonhams. Images of Devotion, Hong Kong, 21 Apr 2021