Bhutanese Textile: Woman's Wearing Dress - Kira

Vintage Arts: Regional Art: Asian: Indian Subcontinent: Himalayas Pre 1970: item #463257
17628

A kira is a rectangular piece of fabric draped in a specific way and worn by virtually all Bhutanese women as a dress. As such, they come in a wide variety of styles and qualities. The one we are featuring here was for everyday use, not too elaborate as such things go, but handloomed from cotton and decorated with a supplemental weft design in bright colors.

Made on belt looms, kiras are made of three strips of cloth ... Click for details

4 Tsakli: Guru Rimpoche and Buddhas

Vintage Arts: Regional Art: Asian: Indian Subcontinent: Himalayas Pre 1970: item #460974
T003

Visit our web site, Himalayan Antiques, for a short discussion of tsakli and their place in Tibetan art.

We have several tsaklis and sets of tsaklis to present on Trocadero. We will start with some of the less expensive tsakli. Search our site on the keyword "tsakli" to find our other offerings and more as we add more.

They are very difficu... Click for details

Small Feminine Figurine, India

Vintage Arts: Regional Art: Asian: Indian Subcontinent: Himalayas Pre 1930: item #420319
2-0120

A small tribal bronze casting, representing a standing woman, probably from Rajasthan. Notice the oversized head, Nice oxidized patina and obvious signs of use in some areas of the figure. Age: probably from beginning of 20th century. Height 3" (7.5 cm). Good condition.

Thangka Wheel of Life

Vintage Arts: Regional Art: Asian: Indian Subcontinent: Himalayas Pre 1980: item #383351
TCV002

A contemporary Tibetan cotton thangka of The Wheel of Life, using contemporary art materials. It is said that the Wheel of Life is the only image that the Buddha created himself by drawing it on the sand while explaining life's evolutionary process. The thanka depicts the figure of Yama, lord of death, holding the Wheel of Life. In the center of the wheel, a cock, a pig, and a snake spin round and round, signifying desire, delusion and hate, the three primary poisons that drive the unenlightene... Click for details

Himalayan mask from Tibet: Mahakala

Vintage Arts: Regional Art: Asian: Indian Subcontinent: Himalayas Pre 1950: item #357684
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With his bulging eyes, snarling mouth and crown of skulls, Mahakala serves to threaten any force which would impede the practice of Buddhism. Thus in spite of his terrifying aspect, he is known as a wrathful protector.

This kind of mask is used during Tibetan monastic dances, with the lama wearing the mask high on his head and using the open mouth as his eye holes. He would be wearing a yak tail mane over his head and... Click for details

Himalayan Mask: Kali from Nepal or Northern India

Vintage Arts: Regional Art: Asian: Indian Subcontinent: Himalayas Pre 1950: item #357667
14729

While we obtained this mask in Nepal it may have originated in northern India. It has been covered in a very fine cotton cloth both inside and outside, and this is very unusual with masks from Nepal.

At any rate it represents Kali, the most wrathful manifestation of the mother god, Durga. She has a third eye and her tongue is red from the blood she has just engorged.... Click for details

Himalayan mask, Tiger, from Terai region of Nepal

Vintage Arts: Regional Art: Asian: Indian Subcontinent: Himalayas Pre 1950: item #357402
19390

The paint is dull and chipped, but the face of this tiger is still very expressive as are its teeth. The mask is carved all from a single block of wood, even including the ears, which more often than not would be carved separately and attached. The wood used is not a hard, dense wood but is quite light, but the mask has held up very well with no splits or chips aside from a very few to the eye holes and a very old repair to the right ear. ... Click for details

Himalayan mask, Nepal, leather animal

Vintage Arts: Regional Art: Asian: Indian Subcontinent: Himalayas Pre 1950: item #357400
19470

We can tell you that this mask originates in the middle hills of Nepal, but we can't tell you with any certainty what it represents. I like to think it is a cat, which is a fine irony, because its nose and left ear appear to have been gnawed on by a mouse.

At any rate is is a very creative mask made from a single sheet of leather shaped and dried into its present form. The leather has been doubled over and shaped to... Click for details

Himalayan mask, Terai region, man with moustache

Vintage Arts: Regional Art: Asian: Indian Subcontinent: Himalayas Pre 1960: item #357395
19446

A nicely carved and and expressive mask of a smiling man with a moustache. Presently black, a pink undercoat shows through flecks in the paint, and who knows what colors before that.

This mask is carved of a soft, light wood. The inside (last photo) shows a very smooth and controlled pattern of chisel marks. The wood condition is good with no cracks, though there is a large chip missing from the top where the end g... Click for details

Himalayan mask, middle hills, Nepal - Tamang

Vintage Arts: Regional Art: Asian: Indian Subcontinent: Himalayas Pre 1950: item #356744
19418

Sometimes the simplest of masks have the strongest presence, as this mask can attest. The lower face is one plane, the forehead is a second, with the triangular nose uniting the two. Old broken pieces of glass give the eyes a haunting glaze, and the rectangular mouth sports six worn teeth, more than one with metal caps. There are traces of old white paint on the forehead and chin.

The mask is carved from a very dens... Click for details