Country Group: The Himalayas (Tibet, Nepal, Mongolia and Other)

Item id: 511

This is an extraordinary and quite large Tara statue from Nepal It is done in a repousse method, I believe from an alloy which is primarily copper. It came from the home of the same antique dealer as the incredible Durga I also currently have listed. He also had this piece for over 20 years, and was selling it because he was closing down his home and retiring. His main area of collecting was ancient Asian swords and arms, and this was a personal piece he had collected along the way. It has an old price tag which was at least 20 years old from the owner previous to the gentleman I purchased it from for 1550 dollars. It was constructed in an interesting way: the head arms torso to the waist is one piece and the waist down is a separate casting. The crown of the head is separate, as is virtually all of the adornment, including all of the beating and jewels and the hair, which are all added on separately. I've had a few of this type which I believe were later examples: the details were not all separately applied, and the casting and patina were not nearly of this quality. It s very food condition, with a superb patina, and all parts intact. There are no scratches or losses that I can see. The only thing is that the foot next to the duck is pushed down a bit in to the base: it may be able to be pushed back up, but it looks fine the way it is: it may cause the slightest lean, but I'm not sure about this. One of the owners has kept a candle in front of this foot by the head of the duck, and there are traces of candle wax. There are also traces of red puja powder in the cup in her hand. She has some authentic wear, and a nice dark patina that age brings: my guess is a good 75 years old, although I don't have much experience with this kind of piece. She is a full 19.5 inches tall, and is 10.5 inches wide at the arms. I put a 5.5 inch bronze standing figure in one photo to give a sense of her very good size.