Manifesting as an elegant young woman seated in the posture of 'royal ease,' this finely-cast gilt-bronze figure depicts a beautiful representation of the female bodhisattva, Tara. According to Buddhist mythography, Tara was born from a lotus bud arising from a tear of compassion shed by the bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara. She is worshiped as a liberator, helping to free devotees from the chain of birth and rebirth, and all the suffering that ensues. In the present iconography, she is represented in a form known as Green Tara, emphasizing Tara's protection from The Eight Great Dangers.
Likely produced in Tibet by artisans referencing the Newari Style of the Kathmandu Valley, the upright posture, high-waisted dhoti, and somewhat tubular torso and limbs are all characteristic of the Newari tradition of the fourteenth century onwards. The artist has made the somewhat unusual decision to include an image of Amitabha in Tara's hair, an iconographic attribute usually found in images of Avalokiteshvara.