101. * STATUETTE DE TARA EN ALLIAGE DE CUIVRE DORÉ ÉCOLE DE ZANABAZAR, MONGOLIE, XVIIIE SIÈCLE Himalayan Art Resources item no. 1455 16.8 cm (6 5/8 in.) high A GILT COPPER ALLOY FIGURE OF TARA ZANABAZAR SCHOOL, MONGOLIA, 18TH CENTURY 扎納巴扎爾流派 蒙古 十八世紀 銅鎏金度母像 Seated on a tall lotus base, this youthfully elegant figure of Tara resonates the artistic paradigms of the famed Mongolian lama, politician, and artist Zanabazar (1635-1723). A visionary who created a workshop of supreme sophistication – merging Nepalese sensuality, Tibetan power, and the scholarly precision of Chinese design – Zanabazar's inventive and singularly syncretic fusion parallels none. Palpably sensual, this Tara with her gentle S-shaped sway and voluptuous contours nevertheless remains with an heir of self-contained agency. As Rhie notes, "The body forms of [Zanabazar's] sculptures are powerfully volumetric but so smoothly rounded that they appear highly perfected, much like the classical mode of Gupta Indian sculpture, though without the subtleties of fleshy modelling... The faces all have a similar youthful, full appearance reminiscent of the Gupta and Pala forms with smoothed shapes, gently curved eyes, and a rather small mouth with slightly pendulous lower lip." (Rhie, 2009, p. 34). This astutely mannered style characterizes other examples from this school, including another Tara image sold at Christie's, New York, 19 March 2013, lot 331. Modulated variations of the lotus base depict wide petals placed on a high pedestal finished with a beaded rim together with vertical lines imitating the ridges of a lotus pod. See an example bearing this specific arrangement sold at Christie's, Paris, 13 June 2013, lot 292. Provenance: Bourne End Auction Rooms, UK, 7 October 2020, lot 98.