Green Tara Paintings and Statues: 13 Museum Works and Auction Sales

Green Tara thangka on a jade-green ground with a pale gold halo ringed with gold studs, framed in Ink & Gold black silk brocade, on a white background

Thirteen museum works, from a twelfth-century Kadampa painting to a jade figure the size of a palm, what changed between them, and what old Green Tara paintings fetch at auction.

The most famous Green Tara painting is probably the thirteenth-century thangka at the Cleveland Museum of Art; one of the earliest is the twelfth-century painting at the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore. Some of the finest Green Tara statues are Pala stone sculptures from eastern India and gilt metal figures from Tibet and Nepal. Green Tara art spans more than a thousand years. Below are thirteen works you can look up in museum collections today, in rough date order, with what to look at in each, followed by a short note on Green Tara paintings at auction. Who she is and how she is drawn is covered in our guide to Green Tara; this piece is about the objects.

Every entry links to the museum's own record. We have not reproduced any museum images here; the links take you to them.

How to look at a Green Tara statue or painting

Three things identify her in almost every period. She sits with the left leg folded and the right leg stepping down. Her right hand rests near the knee, palm out, in the gesture of giving. Her left hand holds the stem of a blue lily, the utpala. In painting she is green. In gilt metal and dark stone she is not, so the posture and the flower do the work the colour cannot. What each of these is said to mean is in Green Tara symbolism.

After that, look at what surrounds her: the throne, the backplate or halo, the small figures at the edges, and any writing. Those are the parts that change most from one region and century to the next.

Eastern India: the stone goddess

1. Green Tara, Brooklyn Museum, 60.138

8th century. Udayagiri or Ratnagiri, Cuttack Hills, Odisha, India. Khondalite or gneiss. 171.2 × 66 × 44.5 cm.

The Brooklyn Museum calls this one of the earliest surviving images of Tara, and it is monumental, just over 500 kilograms. Look at the body first: full and rounded, which the museum links to older South Asian nature goddesses. Then look low on the right for a small, fierce, multi-armed dancing figure, which the museum reads as the forceful side of feminine energy. It was made for a monastery in eastern India whose teachings later travelled north to Bihar, Bengal, Nepal and Tibet. Brooklyn Museum record.

2. The Buddhist Goddess Green (Shyama) Tara, LACMA, M.76.2.30

9th century. Patna District, Bihar, India. Biotite schist. 86.4 × 45.1 × 22.9 cm.

Here the full formula is in place. She sits on a lion throne, right foot resting on a lotus, right hand in the gesture of charity, left hand holding a blue lotus stem. Two small Buddhas, Akshobhya and Ratnasambhava, sit either side of her head, and the wrathful goddess Ekajata waits at the lower left of the base. Read the stone as well as the figure: one inscription above her head states the Buddhist teaching on causes and cessation, and another on the base names the elder monk Shakyamitra as donor. LACMA record.

For comparison, the Norton Simon Museum's Shyama (Green) Tara, M.1974.06.S, is a late ninth-century schist from Bihar, 94 cm high, with the same Buddhist creed carved inside her halo. Norton Simon record.

3. Tara, Victoria and Albert Museum, 05228(IS)

12th century. Bihar, eastern India. Pala style, black basalt. 57 × 32 × 13 cm.

By the twelfth century the setting has grown into architecture. She stands before a backplate with a throne back, pillars, a crossbeam and a large nimbus, flanked by two stupas, so that the V&A describes the sculpture as a kind of miniature shrine. She holds a lotus stem and makes the wish-granting gesture, and the museum links this form to Green Tara. Look for the two small guardians beside her, one leaning on an axe, and for the pedestal inscription, Sri Valachandrasya, "belonging to Valachandra". V&A record.

4. Green Tara, leaf from a Perfection of Wisdom manuscript, the Met, 1986.25.1

12th century, Pala period. Bihar or West Bengal, India. Ink and colour on palm leaf. Image 5.1 × 55.6 cm.

The same century, at a completely different scale. Pala painters set small deities into the pages of palm-leaf sutras, and this leaf shows Green Tara on a cushioned throne, her hand raised, in the Met's words, "offering protection (abhaya mudra)". The image is about five centimetres tall. Keep it in mind for the next entry, which a scholar argues was enlarged from exactly this kind of miniature. Met record.

Early Tibet: Kadampa masters, Indian models, Newar hands

5. Green Tara, Walters Art Museum, F.112

1160s–1180s. Tibet. Tempera on cloth. 121.92 × 80.01 cm.

The earliest Tibetan painting here, and a large one, just over 1.2 metres tall. The Walters describes Tara seated on a lotus in her mountain paradise, with the Buddha, and eight emanations of herself, each saving devotees from one of the eight great fears. The museum gives each fear a meaning: lions for pride, elephants for delusion, fire for hatred, snakes for envy, thieves for false views, imprisonment for greed, floods for lust and demons for doubt. Then think of the back, which you cannot see: a Tibetan inscription there says the painting was the meditational image of the master Chason Dru-o (d. 1175) of the Kadam order, and another calls the central image "The Reting deity", the principal deity of Reting monastery. The museum lists it as a promised gift of John and Berthe Ford, and Pratapaditya Pal, writing on Asianart.com, calls it the famous "Ford Tārā". The eight fears themselves are explained in Tara and the Eight Fears. Walters record.

6. Green Tara, Cleveland Museum of Art, 1970.156

c. 1260s. Central Tibet. Attributed to Aniko. Gum tempera, ink and gold on sized cotton. Painting 52.4 × 43.2 cm.

Scholars still debate this painting. Cleveland attributes it to Aniko, the Nepalese artist active in Tibet. In a long study on Asianart.com, Jean-Luc Estournel finds elements from three different sources on one cloth. The goddess, her proportions, her jewellery and the arch above her follow Newar conventions from the Kathmandu Valley. The shrine around her and the plants come from Pala palm-leaf painting, enlarged, he estimates, seven to ten times; the plain red ground is in the Indian manner. The consecration on the back is Tibetan. Look at the throne platform, where lion and elephant heads alternate. Estournel thinks the attribution to Aniko is risky, suggests it may come from the Khasa (Yatse) kingdom instead, and calls it "doomed to remain an enigmatic masterpiece of Tibetan painting". Cleveland record · Estournel on Asianart.com.

7. Green Tara, Asia Society, New York, 1991.1

14th century. Tibet. Opaque watercolor with gold on cotton. 78 × 63.5 cm.

This painting is crowded. The Asia Society counts forty-six different manifestations of Tara on it, with Shakyamuni Buddha above her right shoulder. Look at the gold: most of her jewellery and her mandorla are built up in relief, so they stand off the cloth. Then look at the bottom row. The patrons, a man and a woman, sit at its centre, and above them sits a monk of the Sakya order, possibly, the museum says, the person who consecrated the painting. It was bought through the Mr. and Mrs. John D. Rockefeller 3rd Acquisitions Fund. Asia Society record.

8. Green Tara, Rubin Museum of Himalayan Art, C2003.11.1

14th century. Central Tibet. Copper alloy with inlays of semi-precious stones. 26 × 17.1 × 14 cm.

A century later, a Tibetan bronze still looks south. The Rubin notes that the pose and composition draw on northeast Indian models, down to the net over her hair knot and the sheer scarf across her chest. Look at her two hands. The blue lily in her left hand is what makes her Green Tara. The second lily, the museum says, was added for symmetry and carries no iconographic meaning, a reminder that not every detail is a symbol. Rubin record.

9. Green Tara, Rubin Museum of Himalayan Art, C2005.16.45

15th century. Tibet. Silver, gilt copper alloy with inlaid semi-precious stones. 13.7 × 8.9 × 8.6 cm.

A small figure, about the height of a hand. Her right leg hangs down to a flower stool, her right hand makes the wish-granting gesture and her left holds a flower stem. Look closely at the lower garment, which is finely incised, and at the turquoise set into the ornaments. The Rubin also points to her youthful face, which it says matches the texts of her practice. Rubin record.

Western Tibet and Nepal

10. White Tara and Green Tara, the Met, 2012.460

1450–1500. Western Tibet (Guge). Distemper on cloth. Image 51.4 × 50.8 cm.

Two Taras share one painting, each enthroned on a lotus rising from a pool against mountains. White Tara sits in meditation with the many eyes of omniscience; Green Tara rests one leg downward. Both extend the wish-granting hand. The Met connects the pair to the two wives of Songtsen Gampo, the first king of Tibet. For style, look at the slim waists and the clothing, which the museum traces to Kashmiri conventions in Guge painting, a different source from the Newar line in Cleveland. Met record.

11. The deity Green Tara, Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, B60B160

1500–1600. Nepal. Gilded bronze and semi-precious stones. 48.25 × 33 × 33 cm.

This one is about movement. The museum describes her stepping forward from her lotus throne as if about to rise, her foot on a second lotus that seems to link her realm to ours. Its depth equals its width, 33 cm, so it repays walking around. The museum gives her role as activating compassion in those seeking awakening. Asian Art Museum record.

The Qing court

12. Sgrol-ma (Green Tara), Minneapolis Institute of Art, 36.5.1a-c

Qing dynasty, Qianlong period (per the museum). China. Green jade and gilt bronze. 10.2 × 7.6 cm.

Under the Qing emperors Tibetan Buddhism had imperial patrons, and the materials changed with them. Here the goddess is carved in green jade and set on a gilt bronze stand: the colour of the stone does what green paint does on cloth. Mia calls it an "imperial jade image". Look for the inscription, which the museum records as Yung Cheng Yu Chi and reads as made especially for the Yongzheng emperor (Yung Ching in the record), though it dates the piece to the Qianlong period. Mia's label also repeats the legend linking Green Tara to one of Songtsen Gampo's wives. Mia record.

Later Tibet

13. Green Tara, Rubin Museum of Himalayan Art, F1997.6.5 (HAR 87)

18th century. Tibet. Ground mineral pigment on cotton (per Himalayan Art Resources).

Compare this with Cleveland and the change is plain. The architectural shrine has gone. Jeff Watt's description on Himalayan Art Resources places her within an orange nimbus and red aureole on a moon disc and white lotus, her right hand giving over the knee, her left at her heart, both holding lotus stems. In front, on an earthen landscape, a heap of wishing jewels rises from a lotus pond, the top one blazing, and white clouds fill the sky. Landscape, sky and open space now carry the picture. HAR 87.

Sculpture changed too. The V&A's Green Tara from Chamdo in eastern Tibet, IM.37-1929, possibly seventeenth century and 32.7 cm high, is cast bronze with traces of former gilding, hair tinted blue and turquoise set in the necklet. V&A record.

How Green Tara art changed across regions and centuries

Laid side by side, these works tell a short story.

  • Eastern India (Odisha, then Pala Bihar and Bengal), 8th–12th centuries. In these examples, stone comes first, full-bodied and large; by the ninth-century Bihar pieces the posture, the giving hand and the blue lotus are all in place, and the stone carries writing: the Buddhist creed and the names of donors. By the twelfth century she sits in a carved shrine of pillars and stupas, and also appears in miniature in palm-leaf books.
  • Early Tibet, 12th–15th centuries. By the late twelfth century a Kadampa master's large painting already sets her among eight emanations of herself rescuing from the eight fears. Tibetan works borrow Pala shrines and hairstyles, while Newar artists bring their own proportions, jewellery and arches; Cleveland's painting holds both at once. In the fourteenth century the Asia Society painting multiplies her into dozens of forms, with the donors and a Sakya monk at the foot.
  • Guge, late 15th century. In western Tibet, Kashmiri conventions shape the figure instead.
  • Nepalese sculpture, 16th century (one example). Gilded and inlaid, with a stronger sense of movement and depth.
  • Qing court, 18th century. Imperial patronage, and precious materials such as jade.
  • Later Tibet, 17th–18th centuries. In the painting shown here, the picture opens out into landscape, pools, jewels and cloud. Regional workshops, such as Chamdo, make their own versions.

Through all of it, the right foot steps down and the left hand holds the lily.

Green Tara paintings at auction

Old Green Tara paintings still come up for sale, and the auction houses publish their catalogue entries. A few examples show the range. These are records of past sales, not valuations.

  • Christie's New York, 2012. "A rare and important thangka of the Green Tara", Tibet, 13th/14th century, pigments and gold on textile, 47 × 39.4 cm (lot 558, sale 2578, Indian & Southeast Asian Art). It came from the collection of Dr. Eugenio Ghersi, acquired while on expedition with Giuseppe Tucci and brought to Italy in 1933. Christie's called it "the earliest example of Green Tara in association with Twenty-one Taras and the Eight Fears." A pre-sale release published on Artfix Daily gave an estimate of $400,000–600,000 for the 12 September sale; the Journal of Antiques and Collectibles reported that it sold for $1.76 million including buyer's premium. Christie's lot.
  • Bonhams Hong Kong, 2 December 2021. "A thangka of Green Tara", Gyantse region, Tibet, early 15th century, distemper on cloth, image 50.5 × 43 cm, with om ah hum inscribed in ink on the back, as on the Cleveland painting. Provenance: Carlo Cristi, 2010, then a private Australian collection. Sold for HK$315,000 including premium (lot 1021). Bonhams lot.
  • Christie's, Indian and Southeast Asian Art (sale 2724). "A painting of Green Tara", Tibet, 18th century, opaque pigments and gold on textile, 64.5 × 43.2 cm (lot 265). The catalogue places it in a set of possibly nine paintings of Tara protecting from the eight fears; the scene in the foreground refers to the fear of drowning. Christie's lot.
  • Sotheby's, Indian, Himalayan and Southeast Asian Art (lot 1013). "A thangka depicting Green Tara", Tibet, 18th/19th century, distemper on cloth, with the twenty-one Taras around her and red Amitabha at top centre. Estimate $6,000–8,000. Sotheby's lot.

The spread, from a few thousand dollars to well over a million, follows age, rarity and a documented history. Every one of these is an old painting on cloth. None of that applies to a new piece, ours included.

Our own Green Tara thangkas

We make Green Tara thangkas of our own, and it is fair to say plainly how they differ from the works above. Each design is our own drawing, kept to traditional proportions and printed on heavy card with eco-friendly inks. They are not hand-painted, and they are not mineral pigment. Elderly lay Buddhists at a temple finish each one by hand, setting glass crystals one by one and tracing outlines in gold glitter, about two days for each piece. The crystals are glass, not gems, and the glitter is not gilding. Part of every order goes back to that temple.

Green Tara thangka on a red ground with red peonies and clouds, an orange halo and a jewelled arch, framed in Crimson Cloud red silk brocade, on a white background
Our Green Tara thangka on red, with a jewelled arch and a kirtimukha above her, framed in Crimson Cloud brocade.

Some details come straight from the history above. The jewelled arch over her in the thangka on red echoes the arch, or torana, over her in the Cleveland painting. The giving right hand and the blue lily are the same ones carved in Bihar in the ninth century. Each image is 40.2 × 56.2 cm, set in a silk brocade frame-within-a-frame behind acrylic.

Detail of a Green Tara thangka on jade green, showing her right hand open in the giving gesture
Detail of our Green Tara thangka on jade green: the right hand in the giving gesture.

For those who want it, a thangka can spend a night in the temple's main hall and be consecrated by the monks the next morning. We make no claim that our thangkas, or any image or statue, bring luck, protection, healing or any other effect.

Green Tara art questions

What does a Green Tara statue represent?

Green Tara, a female figure of awakening in Tibetan Buddhism. The Rubin describes her as the most widely venerated female deity in Himalayan Buddhism, associated with the activity of all buddhas and believed by devotees to respond quickly. The Asian Art Museum describes her role as activating compassion. Those are the tradition's beliefs, as the museums report them.

What is the most famous Green Tara painting?

Probably the thirteenth-century Green Tara at the Cleveland Museum of Art, 1970.156, which scholars still debate. The Walters Art Museum's Green Tara, F.112, from the 1160s–1180s, and the Asia Society's fourteenth-century painting, 1991.1, are two more early Tibetan paintings with public museum records.

How much is an old Green Tara painting worth?

It depends on age, condition, rarity and provenance. Published figures range from a Sotheby's estimate of $6,000–8,000 for an 18th/19th-century thangka to a reported $1.76 million for a 13th/14th-century painting from the Ghersi collection at Christie's in 2012. For a specific piece, ask an auction house specialist.

How to tell Green Tara from White Tara in a statue

In gilt metal the colour is gone, so look at the posture and the details. Green Tara sits with her right leg stepping down; White Tara sits in full meditation posture and has extra eyes, as in the Met's Guge painting. Flowers help too: the Rubin identifies its fourteenth-century bronze as Green Tara by the blue lily, while the Met reads a full-blown lotus on one of its gilt Taras as a sign of White Tara. More in Green Tara vs White Tara.

Where to place a Green Tara statue?

Ven. Tenzin Yignyen, in an interview published by Shambhala Publications, advises a shelf or table used for nothing else, higher than your head as you sit facing it; more in our guide to choosing a Green Tara thangka.

What is the oldest Green Tara statue?

No one can say for certain. Images of Tara survive from Indian cave sites of around the sixth and seventh centuries. The Brooklyn Museum describes its eighth-century Green Tara from Odisha as one of the earliest surviving representations of her.

Is the Cleveland Green Tara really by Aniko?

The museum attributes it to him. Estournel, writing on Asianart.com, considers the attribution risky because no work is firmly documented as Aniko's, and he proposes a possible origin in the Khasa (Yatse) kingdom instead. The question is open.

One foot down

A monk named Shakyamitra paid for a stone Tara in Bihar and had his name cut into the base. Someone in Tibet wrote a consecration on the back of a painting that only the wall would see. An emperor's jade figure fits in the hand. The materials changed, and the courts and the workshops. The foot stepping down did not.

Left leg folded. Right foot on the lotus. Right hand open. Left hand at the heart, holding the lily.

Sources

All Green Tara Thangkas · Green Tara on Red · Green Tara on Jade Green · Thangka collection

More from the Journal: Green Tara and the 21 Taras · The Green Tara Mantra · Green Tara vs White Tara · How to Choose a Green Tara Thangka · Tibetan Buddhist Deities: A Visual Guide · What Is a Thangka?