A bronze Śyāmātārā (Green Tārā) with traces of gilt, 13th/14th century, Tibet, A hollow cast bronze Buddhist image of a Tārā from Tibet sitting on a double lotus. Inparison with most of Asia, Buddhism arrived late in Tibet. It wasn’t present before the seventh century and did not be firmly established for another three centuries. Tibet remained independent into the mid-twentieth century, when it came under Chinese rule. Chinese influence however appeared early, by the end of the Yuan dynasty during the thirteenth century, and it became noticeable in the arts from the Ming dynasty in the early fifteenth century onwards.[1] From that the term Sino-Tibetan art is more apt than simply Tibetan art. This graceful detailed bronze Śyāmātārā or Green Tārā is cast in one piece and reflects theposite nature of much of early Tibetan art. The hand gestures and pose of this sculpture and Sino-Tibetan art in general, are similar to those of nearby Nepalese images, while gilding, heavy casting and attention to the details of decoration and dress reveal the Chinese influence. Tārā refers to a group of female deities with a reference to different colours. Tārā is one of the five Dhyāni-Buddhas (Vairocana, Akṣobhya, Ratnasambhava, Amitābha, Amoghasiddhi) and representations of the five qualities of the historical Buddha. From the colour of the different Tārās (white, blue, yellow, red, green) it is possible to refer them to their respective Kulas or families presided over by the five Dhyāni Buddhas. This Green Tārā is one of the most popular deities in Tibet.[2] She is said to save from the "eight perils," (Aṣṭamahābhaya) which are sometimes seen as physical and sometimes spiritual. Whether the Tārā figure originated as a Buddhist or Brāhmanical (Hindu) figure, is a source of dispute among scholars until today. Many icons depicting Tārā were neglected till long after they were excavated or acquired by archaeologists working in (Eastern) India in the late nineteenth century. Many images have lain unrecognised and unheeded even by the Archaeological Survey Department, in the belief that they were uninteresting Hindu images, as many of them are worped as Brāhmanical gods at village shrines. [3] It is widely assumed that Tārā with her emblems par excellence, varadamudrā and utpala (blue lotus), was fully evolved at Nālandā in the sixth century A.D. and based on archaelogical and textual evidences it appears that the cult of Tārā originated in Eastern India.[4] With her right hand in varadamudrā and the utpala (lotus) in the left, also this sculpture has these bare essential iconographical markers of an Indic female divinity. Also the Purāṇic goddess Lakşmi or Śri has been associated with this iconography from as early as pre-Kuṣāṇa empire era.[5] In Buddhism the name Tārā is associated with the concept of “crossing over” and protects its worpers as they cross the "ocean of existence". She helps them to be free from Saṃsāra (“continuous movement”