This is a very short necklace without an opening so it is most likely of more use for its components than for actual use. It consists of a string of glass beads, mostly orange with a few red and blue ones scattered in and eight old brass pieces. There are five faces each a little different and three melon shaped beads. The brass ornaments all show good age, with nice wear on the backs and also where they hang from a string. They are considerably older than the date we estimate for the neckla ...click for details
Nepalese Stone Vishnu
In describing this stone sculpture which has been in our possession for over twenty years we will quote extensively from Pratapaditya Pal's "Art of Nepal". In the first place, Vishnu's wheel and club are in opposite hands from what one usually sees:
"The principal iconographic difference between this Vishnu and the tenth-century example is that here the god holds the flaming wheel with his upper right hand and the club with the corresponding le ...click for details
This is an impressive complete set of 108 old and well used Buddhist prayer beads with the addition of two new sets of counters. The beads are seeds from the bodhi tree of special importance to Buddhists because Buddha became enlightened while meditating under a Bodhi tree.
The round ends of each seed have been filed down to make for a more compact string of beads, a very desirable quality for many Buddhists who prefer ...click for details
The black shiny beads called ritas are used almost exclusively be Nepalese shamans. Here they are combined with rudraksha beads and a claw in a shaman's necklace. Shamans
usually include something sharp in their malas as a protective device.
This necklace includes 45 rudrakshas and 22 ritas.
It is forty-one inches long and as can be seen from the photos has a wonderful patina which can only come from years of us ...click for details
This is a Tibetan monastic piece, usually called a "dough mold" in English. It used to produce flour effigies used in various rituals. This is a particularly large one - sometimes the molds existed in sets of smaller boards tied into a bundle but this larger example was likely comprehensive enough to stand on its own.
Dough molds were used in Tibetan popular rituals to make dough effigies called zan p ...click for details
Flaming Garudas clutching snakes in their talons, all different in color are depicted flying over a mountain lake in this striking set of tsaklis. Despite their striking similarities, each card is painted individually.
Each card is signed on the reverse side near the bottom and the back of each has been fixed with a piece of cloth so the cards could be displayed on a stick during an initiation (see the last photo). ...click for details
The phurba is used in various Buddhist rituals to frighten or slay invisible malevolent powers. It is thus a very powerful ritual object.
This phurba shows much use. The brass is has a very nice patina where it was grasped and the iron blade is quite worn. We would date it to at least the nineteenth century.
These are among the most common types of Tibetan earrings worn by women. Called aylong, the large silver hoop goes through a hole in the ear lobe and the weight is often held by a supplemental thread in the hair.
We have included a photo of a Tibetan woman wearing very similar earrings. We want to credit the photo to the excellent book, "The Jewelry of Nepal" by Hannelore Gabriel. ...click for details
A viciously fanged blue Mahakala wearing a prominent crown of skulls
is portrayed in this papier mache mask from Bhutan. Since it was worn in sometimes long monastery dances, the lightness of the material made the mask somewhat easier to wear.
As is the custom with Bhutanese masks it has been repainted several times, so it it probably considerably older than it looks. We are making the very conservative estimate t ...click for details
Covered pots like this are used to hold offerings and are usually found on Tibetan altars, either in a domestic shrine room or in a monastery.
This pot is decorated with eight kirtimukha faces, four on the lid and four on the base. The Kirtimukha or face of majesty is a mythological creature so ravenously hungry that it devoured its own body. It is depicted with only a face and hands and with strings of gems hanging f ...click for details
