The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of September 25, 2023

Green Tara

c. 1260s

Central Tibet

Thangka; gum tempera, ink, and gold on sized cotton

Painting: 52.4 x 43.2 cm (20 5/8 x 17 in.); Overall: 107 x 65 cm (42 1/8 x 25 9/16 in.)

Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund by exchange 1970.156

Location

not on view

Fun Fact

The tiny monastic figure under Green Tara's right hand commissioned the painting.

Description

For Tibetans, Green Tara is one of the preeminent figures of their Buddhist faith, a radiant savioress who embodies the female form of the perfect, enlightened mind. The Green Tara in the Cleveland thangka—a Tibetan devotional painting on cloth—specifically dispels fear and provides protection, just like her mantra inscribed on the back side of the painting. Her green color and fear-not gesture link her to the cosmic Buddha of the North, enshrined above her head. Most scholars agree that this work was painted by the celebrated Nepalese artist known as Aniko.

Inscriptions
Inscription Translation

Tolerance is the most excellent asceticism; the Buddha said that "Tolerance is the best liberation." Novices who harm others and cause others pain are not [true] practitioners.

Inscription Remark

Lower four lines of the inscription on the verso translated from the Tibetan by Dr. Paul Nietupski

Inscription

Om Ah Hum

Inscription Remark

Behind brow, throat, and heart of Green Tara

Inscription

om tare tutare ture svaha

Inscription Remark

Mantra of Green Tara

Inscription

Om Ah Hum

Inscription Remark

Behind the Buddha Amoghasidhi, in smaller letters

Inscription

Om Ah Hum

Inscription Remark

Behind the figure of the monastic donor

Inscription

om ah sarva vyida svaha

Inscription Remark

Sanskrit mantra, top line of the inscriptions on the verso

Inscription

ye dharmā hetuprabhavā he- tuṃ teṣāṃ tathāgato hy avadat teṣāṃ ca yo nirodha evaṃvādī mahāśramaṇaḥ

Inscription Translation

Of those phenomena which arise from causes: Those causes have been taught by the Tathāgata (Buddha), And their cessation too - thus proclaims the Great Ascetic.

Provenance
1970-
The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
Citations
Lee, Sherman E. "The Year in Review for 1970." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 58, no. 2 (1971): 22-71. Mentioned: no. 70, p. 157 www.jstor.org
The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. Reproduced: p. 297 archive.org
Orientations, vol. 20, October 1989. Reproduced: cover and fig. 17, p. 42
Rhie, Marylin M., and Robert A. F. Thurman. Wisdom and Compassion: The Sacred Art of Tibet. London: Thames and Hudson, 1991. Reproduced: fig. 14, p. 51
Singer, Jane Casey. "Early Tankas: Eleventh-Thirteenth Centuries," Marg: A Magazine of the Arts (Sept. 1996), pp. 28-29. Reproduced: fig. 11
Fisher, Robert E. Art of Tibet. London; New York: Thames & Hudson, 1997. Reproduced: fig. 112, pp. 134-135
Cunningham, Michael R., Stanislaw J. Czuma, Anne E. Wardwell, and J. Keith Wilson. Masterworks of Asian Art. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1998. Reproduced: pp. 158-159
Kossak, Steven, Jane Casey Singer, and Robert Bruce-Gardner. Sacred Visions: Early Paintings from Central Tibet. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1998. Reproduced: no. 37, pp. 144-146 libmma.contentdm.oclc.org
Kossak, Steven, Jane Casey Singer, Robert Bruce-Gardner, and Michael Henss. Geheime Visionen: frühe Malerei aus Zentraltibet [=Sacred visions : early paintings from Central Tibet]. Zürich: Museum Rietberg, 1999. Reproduced: cat. no. 37, pp. 144-146
May, Sally Ruth, Jane Takac, and Barbara J. Bradley. Knockouts: A Pocket Guide. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2001. Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 101, p. 91, 119
Blezer, Henk and John Ardussi, eds. Impressions of Bhutan and Tibetan Art: Tibetan Studies III. Leiden: Brill, 2002. Reproduced: pl. 42
Czuma, Stanislaw, "Great Acquisitions and Southeast Asian Art at the Cleveland Museum of Art," Orientations (Jan/Feb 2005), vol. 36, no. 1. Reproduced: pp. 86-87
Jackson, David Paul, and Christian Luczanits. Mirror of the Buddha: Early Portraits from Tibet: from the Masterworks of Tibetan Painting Series. New York: Rubin Museum of Art, 2011. Reproduced: p 12, fig 1.8
Franklin, David and C. Griffith Mann. Treasures from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2012. Reproduced: pp. 104-105
Cleveland Museum of Art. Museum Masters: 2016-17 Companion Guide. [Cleveland, Ohio]: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2016. Mentioned and Reproduced: P. 33
Cleveland Museum of Art. Masterworks on Loan: Celebrating the 100th Anniversary of the Cleveland Museum of Art: April through June 2016. [Cleveland]: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2016. Reproduced: p. 22
"Stories from Storage." The Asian Art Newspaper: Monthly for Collectors, Dealers, Museums and Galleries 24, no. 5: 6-7. Mentioned and reproduced: pp. 6-7
Mace, Sonya Rhie. “Asian Art: Green Tara and the Art of Protection.” Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine 61, no. 1 (Winter 2021): 24. Reproduced and Mentioned: P. 24.
Exhibition history

Main Asian Rotation (Gallery 239). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (November 18, 2013-June 30, 2014).

Main Gallery Rotation (Gallery 237). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (April 4-November 7, 2016).

Year in Review: 1970. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 10-March 7, 1971).

Object Lessons: Cleveland Creates an Art Museum. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 7-September 8, 1991).

Sacred Visions: Early Paintings from Central Tibet. The Metropolitan Museum of Art (organizer) (October 5, 1998-January 17, 1999); Museum Rietberg, Zürich (February 14-May 16, 1999).

Streams and Mountains Without End: Asian Art and the Legacy of Sherman E. Lee at the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 27-August 23, 2009).

Stories From Storage. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 7-May 16, 2021).

Source URL: https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1970.156