Jajarkot is a small regional center in the rugged central hills of Nepal. This figure may have originated there or in any of a number of nearby villages. While some of these figures were found in village homes many were kept in local temples.
Much rarer than the wooden devotional figures of the middle hills of Nepal are the stone ones. This figure of a man in a praying position is very simple but powerful. It has been ...click for details
Much rarer than the wooden devotional figures of the middle hills of Nepal are the stone ones. This figure of a praying man with deep set eyes is very simple but powerful. It has been covered by kaolin and milk offerings so thoroughly that the stone surface itself is totally obscured.
The figure is four inches wide at the base and is eleven inches high. It weighs just under four pounds.
The snow lion is the national symbol of Tibet and
as such appeared on the Tibetan flag and on official
documents of Tibet when it was independent of
Chinese rule. This mythological animal is portrayed
with a white body and a green or turquoise mane. On this panel it is shown standing with outstretched arms and facing forward.
The chamfered edges of this panel indicate that is
was once part of a larger piece, ...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
