Period: 16th century
Materials: Gilt repoussé copper
Dimensions: 57 cm
Description
Tara, venerated in Vajrayana Buddhism as a manifestation of active compassion, is represented in lalitasana, the posture of royal ease. The position of the figure expresses the deity’s readiness to act on behalf of living beings.
In Himalayan tradition, Tara is associated with Avalokiteshvara and liberation from suffering. Among her best-known forms, Green Tara is linked to protective action and White Tara to longevity. The hand gestures evoke the teaching of the Dharma and wisdom.
The rich ornamentation belongs to the deity’s iconography and the language of Nepalese workshops. Repoussé produces reliefs and volumes from metal sheets; gilding emphasises their transitions and differences of surface. The modelling of the face and torso is distinct from the decoration of the jewellery, keeping the pose clear. The sculpture combines the functions of an image for worship and a support for meditation, both central to Himalayan devotional production.
This sixteenth-century Nepalese sculpture belongs to Newar production of the Malla period. In the Kathmandu Valley, the making of sacred metal images holds a central place in workshop practice. The richness of the figurative repertoire is accompanied by mastery of repoussé, used here to give the figure an articulated body and elaborate ornamentation.
