Thangka / Scroll Painting.

Thangka is a Himalayan Buddhist scroll-painting tradition used for devotion, teaching, meditation and ritual. Paintings follow prescribed iconographic systems in which the proportions, hand gestures, attributes, colours and placement of deities have symbolic meaning. The image is generally painted on a prepared textile ground and traditionally mounted within brocade so it can be rolled for storage or transport. Subjects include Buddhas, bodhisattvas, protective deities, mandalas and lineage teachers. Mineral and organic pigments and gold may be used in high-quality traditional work. Thangka should be catalogued with particular care because religious accuracy and lineage matter. Website records should identify the depicted deity or mandala, school or Buddhist tradition when known, whether the image is consecrated, pigment and gold details, mounting material, dimensions of painting and overall scroll, and the artist’s training lineage.