Object Details
Artist
Namsang Lama
Medium
Appliqué of silk satin and silk brocade, embroidered with silk and metal-wrapped threads
Dimensions
Image: 30 7/8 × 22 5/8 inches (78.5 × 57.5 cm)
Overall: 69 5/16 × 39 inches (176 × 99 cm)
Credit Line
Gift of Professor Kathryn S. March and Professor David H. Holmberg
Object
Number
2019.037
The ancient art of creating tangkas entirely out of silk fabric has its origins in appliqué techniq(…)
The ancient art of creating tangkas entirely out of silk fabric has its origins in appliqué techniques used to make saddle blankets, and continues to be practiced in Nepal. Namsang Lama created this image of Manjusri, the bodhisattva of wisdom, by piecing together silk fabrics that were then couched, or outlined, in silk wrapped horsehair. Manjusri, seated on a lotus blossom rising out of a pond, wields in his right hand a flaming sword that cuts through ignorance, while in his left hand he holds a lotus flower supporting a book of scripture.
