A rare image of Green Tara in the Roerich family heritage fund of the State Museum of Oriental Art

The article is devoted to the study of a statue of Green Tara from the collection of the Roerich family, which is represented in the funds of The State Museum of Oriental Art. In the pantheon of Tibetan Buddhism, Green Tara belongs to the category of bodhisattvas, who are addressed as a healer and comforter, able to alleviate the suffering of all living beings. A number of issues are considered on the example of this statuette: artistic traditions that formed the basis of the stylistics of the late metal sculpture of the Himalayas; an idea of the everyday life of craftsmen and their customers; the iconographic logic followed by the Buddhist pantheon. Among the details of the image of the Green Tara, the main attention is paid to the stylized image of the Buddha Amitabha on top of the goddess's high hairstyle. This iconographic element is the defining sign of the bodhisattva of mercy Avalokiteshvara. In Tibetan Buddhism, Avalokiteshvara acts as a disciple and assistant of Amitabha, so a stylized figure of this Buddha can be present in the crown of the bodhisattva of mercy. A number of researchers interpret Green Tara as the female hypostasis of Avalokiteshvara. The search for numerous analogues allowed us to establish that the iconographic detail in the form of a stylized figure of Buddha Amitabha in a crown or on top of a Green Tara hairstyle is rarely found in Tibetan, Chinese, Nepalese and Mongolian figurines depicting this character. The author of the article comes to the conclusion that this detail, combined with stylistic and technical and technological features, suggests that the master who created it not only had a high level of skill, but also outstanding knowledge in the field of iconography of Buddhist deities.