The Life of an Old Thangka

Thangkas that were once in active use for worship hung in high places inside monasteries.

They are exposed to butter-lamp vapors over decades.The inside of a monastery is filled with fragrance and silence. Some of the fragrance is aged and some is more recent as there are very few openings so that the cold is kept out. Decades of butter lamp vapors & incense vapors hang heavy making these monasteries extraordinary sanctums.

These vapors also darken every object present within – including Thangkas. So an old thangka that has lived in (and absorbed) a  sacred space of worship is always darkened.

This is my observation from my first-hand experience in the Himalayan monasteries of Tibet, Sikkim, Nepal & Ladakh [May not be true of other Buddhist locations in which the architectural requirements are different].

Monasteries sometimes de-accession some and that is how they are available in the outside world.

Enjoy more of asset 1241 that also has some iridescent paint on WOVENSOULS.COM

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Any idea what the iridescent paint might be? I’ve been looking for answers and have not come up with any published or definitive answers.

jm

June 2019

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