A polychrome and parcel gilt metal alloy repousse figure of white Tara

Circa 1900

Circa 1900
Possibly Mongolian, the skin covered in silver colored paint, her high chignon fronted by a separately cast crown above a peaceful face highlighted in pigments to her three eyes and mouth above her shapely nude torso adorned in elaborate jewelry inlaid in colored glass or semi-precious cabochons, her right hand in proffering varadamudra while her left is upheld in vitarkamudra, raised atop a simply rendered double lotus plinth; the visvajra-incised base plate stamped CHINA enclosing offerings and relics.
18in (46cm) high

Though the current example actually appears to have been carefully adorned in silver color paint, perhaps to better approximate the skin tone of White Tara, in general the appearance and construction of the piece compares well with earlier silver repousse prototypes from the imperial collection. See Marilyn Rhie and Robert Thurman, A Shrine for Tibet: The Alice S. Kandell Collection (New York: Tibet House, 2009), specifically fig 34, p 39 for a silver and gilt figure of Amitayus dating to the third quarter of the 18th century.

See as well a gilt repousse Maitreya figure with a base of similarly elegant simplicity described as 'Qing; probably Dolonnor' also from the second half of the 18th century (op cit, no I-12, pp 72-73). Some elements of how the face is rendered on that figure are reminiscent of the knowing expression on the present lot, features that Rhie et al suggest have its origins in 'the Khalkha Mongolian tradition of Zanabazar' (ibid).