Tibetan Buddhist Thangkas
(Editor’s note: DeeDee Wood is the store manager at Tharpe Antiques, in Easton, part of the Talbot Historical Society.) A Tibetan thangka is a Tibetan Buddhist painting, usually painted upon silk or cotton. It depicts a Buddhist deity, mandala or a scene, and is used for meditation, religious ceremonies, monastic student instruction, and in more modern times, decoration. A central deity is very often depicted being surrounded by other figures with symmetrical composition. Thangkas have their origins in Nepal, Tibet and China, and each region has artistic influence on the works of art. Dating back to the seventh century, thangkas are a complicated religious art form, heavy on symbolism, geometry and Buddhist traditions. Thangkas have their origins from very ancient traditions of early Buddhists. They would create paintings on the walls in caves such the Ajanta Caves in India and caves along the Silk Road, such as the Mogao Caves in China. The Silk Road caves had many of the first stored Tibetan paintings on cloth. The thangka on cloth or silk developed alongside the Tibetan Buddhist wall paintings, which were mostly done in conjunction with monks and monasteries. Research into thangkas is easier for academics in the field to conduct on these wall paintings, rather than ancient scrolls, as the wall paintings have survived better than a scroll. The word thangka literally translates to “thing that one unrolls”...
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