Longevity White Tara Goddess Vintage Chinese Trinity Bronze Shrine Qing Dynasty Mark 多羅菩薩

Vintage Chinese Bronze Shrine
Longevity Goddess White Tara
Joined by Two Attendants
Origin: China. Circa: attributed to early 1900s'
H 8.25 in. (21cm), W 6 in. (15cm), D 3.5 in. (9cm)
Condition: excellent!

Wrapped in a pleated dhoti and wearing a small headband with a figure of Avalokiteshvara, sparingly ornamented on her bare bosoms, with an archaic simplicity of an ascetic, her right hand is extended in wish granting gesture, left hand raised in teaching gesture, she is seated in a lotus posture, with remnant of saffron powder from past worships on a footed three tier rectangular throne. The apocryphal Qianlong Emperor seal mark (1736-1795) embossed in the back indicated the extensive Buddhist influences in the Qing court, along with various of elements found in this White Tara shrine confirmed the ultimate Buddhist influence of India in China.

There are twenty-one forms of Tara. The three most important forms are White Tara, Green Tara and Red Tara. Born from a compassionate tear of Avalokiteshvara, she is a female Buddha and meditation deity, first introduced into Tibet in the seventh century, and became a Vajrayana deity with the Indian Buddhism into Tibet through Padmasambhava. The Sanskrit name of White Tara is Saraswati, and she is associated with Longevity.