DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.650#0003
For the PLATES OF THE ATLAS such objects have been selected as illustrate the worship of the deities, the ornamental decoration of the interior
of the temples, and the strong- belief in the beneficial influence of magical sentences and figures upon the. welfare, of man; the number of Buddhas, kings, and
deified sages is particularly great.
The explanations given in the text in reference to the drawings are quoted below the objects; here, therefore, I limit myself to the communication
of such details as concern the execution of the plates and the reproduction of the materials used in the originals.
Method of drawing. The paintings were traced in Tibet by means of patterns (see p. 204) upon paper, or canvass prepared with chalk, lime, and
flour-paste. A variety of colours is most minutely applied, and these tints are not only used for increasing the plastic effect, but their colour is also directly
combined with the sacred character of the object, as I have frequently had occasion to allude to. Here, in the Atlas, the reproduction of the outlines is particularly
given; it was obtained by an immediate process, viz. by putting transparent paper upon the objects & by transferring their contours directly upon the stone,
after having traced them with lithographic ink. As it was my special object to give fac-similes of native art, I have limited myself to a plain reproduction
of figures and pictures, even where the representation might easily have been improved and corrected. The drawings show the natural size of the object,
Plates 1, 4 and 5 excepted, which are one half of the original. The tints I have selected are limited either to an approximate reproduction of the predominant
colour, or it is connected with the colour of the material upon which the original was traced. I never heard of engravings in stones having been seen
painted over.
The materials which had to be reproduced were woven manufactures, different varieties of paper, wood, and stone. A transfer system of a rather
novel nature, first employed by Hermann, who, for various objects, had used it already during the journey, allowed of giving, in many cases without any other
addition, the predominant character at least of the material used ; and so the plates also show the selection at present made for the Lamaic work in the
Buddhist monasteries. This circumstance, though of an ethnographical as well as a religious character, may justify my entering here into some more details.
Woven Manufactures. The Plates Nos. 1, 3, 4, 7, 9, 11, 16, 17, 20 show various specimens of Tibetan industry. — Nos 1 and 4 are coarse silks;
in their natural colours. — No. 3 is a red cotton; the borders are covered with a colour partly rubbed off again from having been frequently rolled up. —
Nos. 7 and 9 are specimens of coarse Tibetan woollen cloth; in No. 7 the distance of the longitudinal borders shows at the same time the total breadth of
the piece of cloth; above and below the image two borders of stronger cloth are stitched on. — No. 11 is a peculiar precious stuff from China, richly inter-
woven with metallic thread; the cross we see upon the marginal parts is the symbol of peace (see p. 182). — No. 16 is a sacred symbol drawn upon cotton
by a cane-pen; it formed a part of a long prayer-flag. One side of it was fastened to a pole, the opposite side shows pieces of stronger rags,
separately attached. — No. 17 shows a flag of cotton with a broad stripe of deeper shading; when coloured, the central part of such flags, containing the
sacred image, is covered by a particular stratum facilitating the application of colours. When complete, as hung up in the Temples (see p. 215), sticks
supporting the borders are added, as in the present case. As plates showing flags without the sticks being added to their borders, I quote Nos. 3, 5, 10 and 11.
— In No. 20 the blue cloth is a very coarse Tibetan woven stuff of Lepcha hemp.
Of Wood I have but one example, No. 13, where a light-coloured poplar wood is seen. The apricot and the poplar (Papulus euphrasïca) are the trees
which follow the Lamaic priests up to their highest settlements where the climate allows of it; the latter tree not unfrequently attains considerable dimensions.
The Stones here represented are: the granite of Bhutan in No. 6, which, however, is only found within very narrow limits in the Eastern
Himalaya; the micaschist of Sfkkim in No. 12, and the Jurassic slate of Central Tibet in No. 14. Gneiss is also used in the Eastern Himalaya.
Paper is manufactured in great variety in the different provinces of the Himalaya and Tibet; in general these papers are very tough when dry,
but they are too liable to destruction when exposed to moisture, from want of the necessary glutinous substances. — No. 2 and 9 show a paper
which is rather smooth and pretty well made; such kinds of paper are frequently found. — No. 8 is a paper covered with a reddish stratum of colour con-
siderably rubbed off again. — No. 15 and 19 are papers from the central part of Tibet of a very uniform texture, but nevertheless of a very unbleached
colour. — No. 18 is particularly characteristic of the paper manufactory in the Himalaya. It is made of vegetable fibres without having previously undergone
the process of wear and tear by man. The material used for this paper is the inner bark of the Daphne cannabina (Lour.), a shrub from 4 to 5 feet high.
This paper is of a rough surface, but unusually strong and tough.
PRINTED BY Dil. C. WOLF * SO
N AT MUNICH.
of the temples, and the strong- belief in the beneficial influence of magical sentences and figures upon the. welfare, of man; the number of Buddhas, kings, and
deified sages is particularly great.
The explanations given in the text in reference to the drawings are quoted below the objects; here, therefore, I limit myself to the communication
of such details as concern the execution of the plates and the reproduction of the materials used in the originals.
Method of drawing. The paintings were traced in Tibet by means of patterns (see p. 204) upon paper, or canvass prepared with chalk, lime, and
flour-paste. A variety of colours is most minutely applied, and these tints are not only used for increasing the plastic effect, but their colour is also directly
combined with the sacred character of the object, as I have frequently had occasion to allude to. Here, in the Atlas, the reproduction of the outlines is particularly
given; it was obtained by an immediate process, viz. by putting transparent paper upon the objects & by transferring their contours directly upon the stone,
after having traced them with lithographic ink. As it was my special object to give fac-similes of native art, I have limited myself to a plain reproduction
of figures and pictures, even where the representation might easily have been improved and corrected. The drawings show the natural size of the object,
Plates 1, 4 and 5 excepted, which are one half of the original. The tints I have selected are limited either to an approximate reproduction of the predominant
colour, or it is connected with the colour of the material upon which the original was traced. I never heard of engravings in stones having been seen
painted over.
The materials which had to be reproduced were woven manufactures, different varieties of paper, wood, and stone. A transfer system of a rather
novel nature, first employed by Hermann, who, for various objects, had used it already during the journey, allowed of giving, in many cases without any other
addition, the predominant character at least of the material used ; and so the plates also show the selection at present made for the Lamaic work in the
Buddhist monasteries. This circumstance, though of an ethnographical as well as a religious character, may justify my entering here into some more details.
Woven Manufactures. The Plates Nos. 1, 3, 4, 7, 9, 11, 16, 17, 20 show various specimens of Tibetan industry. — Nos 1 and 4 are coarse silks;
in their natural colours. — No. 3 is a red cotton; the borders are covered with a colour partly rubbed off again from having been frequently rolled up. —
Nos. 7 and 9 are specimens of coarse Tibetan woollen cloth; in No. 7 the distance of the longitudinal borders shows at the same time the total breadth of
the piece of cloth; above and below the image two borders of stronger cloth are stitched on. — No. 11 is a peculiar precious stuff from China, richly inter-
woven with metallic thread; the cross we see upon the marginal parts is the symbol of peace (see p. 182). — No. 16 is a sacred symbol drawn upon cotton
by a cane-pen; it formed a part of a long prayer-flag. One side of it was fastened to a pole, the opposite side shows pieces of stronger rags,
separately attached. — No. 17 shows a flag of cotton with a broad stripe of deeper shading; when coloured, the central part of such flags, containing the
sacred image, is covered by a particular stratum facilitating the application of colours. When complete, as hung up in the Temples (see p. 215), sticks
supporting the borders are added, as in the present case. As plates showing flags without the sticks being added to their borders, I quote Nos. 3, 5, 10 and 11.
— In No. 20 the blue cloth is a very coarse Tibetan woven stuff of Lepcha hemp.
Of Wood I have but one example, No. 13, where a light-coloured poplar wood is seen. The apricot and the poplar (Papulus euphrasïca) are the trees
which follow the Lamaic priests up to their highest settlements where the climate allows of it; the latter tree not unfrequently attains considerable dimensions.
The Stones here represented are: the granite of Bhutan in No. 6, which, however, is only found within very narrow limits in the Eastern
Himalaya; the micaschist of Sfkkim in No. 12, and the Jurassic slate of Central Tibet in No. 14. Gneiss is also used in the Eastern Himalaya.
Paper is manufactured in great variety in the different provinces of the Himalaya and Tibet; in general these papers are very tough when dry,
but they are too liable to destruction when exposed to moisture, from want of the necessary glutinous substances. — No. 2 and 9 show a paper
which is rather smooth and pretty well made; such kinds of paper are frequently found. — No. 8 is a paper covered with a reddish stratum of colour con-
siderably rubbed off again. — No. 15 and 19 are papers from the central part of Tibet of a very uniform texture, but nevertheless of a very unbleached
colour. — No. 18 is particularly characteristic of the paper manufactory in the Himalaya. It is made of vegetable fibres without having previously undergone
the process of wear and tear by man. The material used for this paper is the inner bark of the Daphne cannabina (Lour.), a shrub from 4 to 5 feet high.
This paper is of a rough surface, but unusually strong and tough.
PRINTED BY Dil. C. WOLF * SO
N AT MUNICH.