Thangka

Silk scroll painting has been known in China for over 5,000 years and has spread over the centuries to other East Asian countries, absorbing their cultural specificities.

One particular form of scroll painting, the tangka or thangka, developed in Tibet. However, thangkas can also be found in the northern regions of China and in Bhutan.

Tibetan art is closely linked to Buddhism, which appeared in the country at the beginning of the 7th century. Sculpture, painting, engraving, embroidery, and architecture were grouped under the name Regong arts from the 10th century onward.

The thangka is one of the main expressions of these arts. It appears as a rectangle painted on canvas or silk, with rods at both ends that allow the artwork to be easily rolled and unrolled.

Thangkas depict symbols such as mandalas, figures from Tibetan Buddhism, or portraits of religious personalities, including the Dalai Lama.

Some thangkas are decorated with silk cutouts embroidered onto the canvas to give the artwork a raised effect. The oldest thangkas are strongly influenced by Indian style and iconography, which was gradually replaced by Chinese influences around the 15th century.

While most of these devotional images are modest in size and easily transportable, there are also larger models that are unrolled against a wall or even across the slope of a hill. A thangka wall is set up in some Tibetan monasteries to display giant paintings during ceremonies related to the Exhibition of the Buddha festival.

Over the centuries, the style of thangkas has evolved, allowing professionals specializing in the appraisal of Asian antiques to authenticate and estimate pieces presented at auctions dedicated to Tibetan art.