Country Group: The Himalayas (Tibet, Nepal, Mongolia and Other)

Item id: 10159

One of the most vivid small Thangkas I have ever owned. Purchased from a wealthy Mongolian collector along with 3 other fine small Thangkas in the 1990s from his very best personal pieces as a thank you for a long friendship. The painted thangka is 6.75 x 9 inches, the frame is 13 x 15 1/8 inches. Custom mat and frame, with museum glass and silk matting. Exquisite. Not inexpensive for a small Thangka, but you won't find one better. Probably early to mid 20th century (in reality many of the Mongolian Thangkas sold in the west as 19thC are early 20thC, as the environment there causes cloth and paper to usually soil, darken, and degrade. The number of truly early Thangkas that are bright and clean is very few. Even most of the early/mid-20th Cones show great wear and soiling. This one almost sure lived all of its life in a large Gau box or in a drawer or trunk, as the colors look as bright as the day it was painted. It was very difficult 20 years ago to find pieces like this- today is nearly impossible. Many of my pieces like this end up going back to Mongolia or China.