A traditional Bhutanese textile, keras were folded lengthwise and used as belts over kiras. Designs, materials, patterning and even colors were dictated by custom and the fashion prevailing at the time. Over time they have grown more and more narrow so that today's kera are one narrow unfolded strip of cloth, usually machine made.
This kera is probably about sixty years old. As can be quite clearly from the w ...click for details
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.
We recently visited Cambodia and were able to find several silk weft-patterned ikats dating from the period before the Vietnam war. This one, like most, had been sewn into a woman's sarong. It measures 38" x 64" and is in very good condition showing little wear and with only one tiny hole less than the size of a grain of rice. Very typical muted natural colors.
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
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
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
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
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.
For Tibetan Buddhists 108 is an auspicious number. 108 beads make up a Buddhist prayer mala and 108 butter lamps make up a set.
Tiny lamps like this are lit on numerous occasions and lighting them is considered a form of worship or meditation. In addition to larger and more elaborate butter lamps somewhere in a Tibetan monastery there is inevitably an assemblage of one or several sets of these tiny lamps also burnin ...click for details
Under traditional Naga customs this neck ring would have been worn only by a man who had taken heads. While many pieces of headhunter jewelry from Nagaland are now being reproduced, this piece shows the wear and patina to date back to the time of headhunting. We have provided several closeup shots to so indicate.
At its widest the piece is 6 inches. The opening for the neck is 3-1/2 inches, and the widest inner width ...click for details
