A SMALL BLACK STONE STELE OF TARANORTHEASTERN INDIA, PALA PERIOD, 8TH-9TH CENTURY33⁄4 in. (9.5 cm.) highDetails33⁄4 in. (9.5 cm.) highProvenanceThe George P. Bickford, Cleveland, by 1969.LiteratureW. Begley, Pala Sculpture, Iowa City, 1969, pp. 22-23 fig. 5 (according to Czuma, 1975).S. Czuma, Indian Art from the George P. Bickford Collection, Cleveland, 1975, cat. 13.Himalayan Art Resources, item no. 24844.ExhibitedThe University of Iowa, Pala Sculpture, 1969, no. 5 (according to Czuma, 1975).The Cleveland Museum of Art; Austin, The University Art Museum; Champaign, Krannert Art Museum; Cambridge, Fogg Art Museum; Gainesville, University Gallery; Phoenix Art Museum; Berkeley, University Art Museum; University of Michigan Museum of Art, Indian Art from the George Bickford Collection, 14 January 1975- 13 February 1977.The elegant and sensual goddess sits in ease on a double-lotus throne, her right leg extending below the throne with her foot supported by a lotus platform. Her extended right hand is place on her knee in the gesture of generosity, varadamudra. In her other hand, she holds a long-stemmed blue-lotus in a teaching gesture. These attributes are also seen in illustrated manuscripts produced during the Pala period. The goddess is surrounded by semicircular nimbus or throne back, with pearl and flame borders. The present work is unusual for its fine workmanship and diminutive scale. The sculpture was likely made for pilgrims passing through the region. Following the Gupta Dynasty's decline, artists trained in the Gupta ateliers dispersed in search of new patronage, migrating East from places such as Sarnath to Bihar. This small but fine black stone stele evinces Gupta reverberations in the figure's luscious volume emphasized by the simply carved folds, delicate grace, and sensitive modeling into a new and distinct idiom. Worship of Tara was especially popular in Eastern India, around the region of modern day Bengal during the Pala Dynasty, c. 750-1200. In this period the greatest monasteries and temples were established, such as at Nalanda and Vikramashila. Compare with a ninth-century black-stone steles of Green Tara preserved in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (acc. no.M.76.2.30), as well as another image of Green Tara in the Brooklyn Museum (acc. no.1995.136). ---