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Green Tara
OriginCentral Tibet
Date14th century
Dimensions10 1/4 × 6 3/4 × 5 1/2 in.
MediumGilt copper alloy
Classification(s)
Credit LineRubin Museum of Art
Object numberC2003.11.1
Himalayan Art Resources Number65209
DescriptionThis elegant bronze of Green Tara represents early Tibetan aesthetics and metal sculpture at its best. The general composition and the elegant sway of the body are clearly based on South Asian examples, as are some of the details, including the hair with a knot on one side covered by a net and the transparent scarf crossing the figure’s breast and forming a loop on the left shoulder. That this is an image of Green Tara, rather than another form of the popular Buddhist goddess, can be concluded from the blue lily (utpala) held in her left hand. A second blue lily, with one blossom shown in profile, has been added for reasons of symmetry and has no iconographic significance.11th century
13th century
15th century
1580s-1590s
late 18th century, ca. 1760s
19th century
19th century
late 19th century
19th century
15th century
15th century
12th century