Lot 357
Rare Rhinoceros Horn Carved Figure of a Tara, Sino-Tibetan, 17th/18th Century
Lot 357 Details
Rare Rhinoceros Horn Carved Figure of a Tara, Sino-Tibetan, 17th/18th Century
Carved in the Pala style with downcast eyes and wearing a tall crown, the figure seated in lalitasana (one-legged ease) on a double lotus base, her left hand in varada mudra (granting of wishes), her right in padmapani mudra (lotus gesture), remnants of polychrome throughout, old restoration in later rhino horn to support the back with an old Chinese seal fragment
height 4" — 10.2 cm.
2.7 oz. — 84 grams
Estimate $15,000-$20,000
Additional Images
Provenance:
Ex Collection James and Marilyn Alsdorf, Chicago, 1970's
Sotheby’s Chicago, 1998
Note:
The form of this carving has its roots in Pala Indian iconography from the 11th century, and contains elements of Sino-Tibetan bronze examples from the Kangxi Period (1664-1722). Though probably carved by a master Tibetan artist, the use of an extremely valuable material such as rhinoceros horn, which removes so much of the material to produce an image sculpted fully in the round, is likely to have been a Chinese commission.
For a similar carving of the Green Tara (also missing the left hand and with losses to the ribbons) from the Gerard Levy Collection, Paris, please see Jan Chapman’s ’The Art of the Rhinoceros Carving’, London: Christie’s Books, 1999, no. 397.
CONDITION DETAILS
PLEASE NOTE THIS IS A PREMIUM LOT. ANY BIDDING ON THIS LOT REQUIRES PRE-APPROVAL FROM THE ASIAN ART DEPARTMENT AT LEAST 48 HOURS PRIOR TO THE SALE. Please contact [email protected] or 416.847.6185 for more information