DOI Heft:
No. 134 (May, 1904)
DOI Artikel:Le Mesurier, Lilian: Tibetan art
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.19881#0320
Tibetan Art
FEMALE ORNAMENT SHOWING THE CONTINUOUS PATTERN
WHICH IS SOMETIMES CONSIDERED SYMBOLICAL
OF ETERNAL LIFE
imperceptible or diners in character from that
alluded to above,
Other Tibetan objects of interest include beer
flagons and tea-churns, made of wood blackened
by generations of use, and clasped with fluted rims
of bright brass. The handles of the beer flagons
are often in the form of a dragon, reminding
the observer curiously of the similar design so
often found on early English black-oak settles
and chests.
One very remarkable design, constantly found
on religious instruments and vessels in Tibet, is
what may be called the dorje or thunderbolt
handle. Examples of this kind of decoration
are shown in the illustrations of the sacred
Lhassa bell on page 296, and the libation bowl
(page 295). The dorje is a small implement,
supposed to represent a thunderbolt, used in
certain religious ceremonies, being grasped in
the right hand of the monk or priest. The
bell is delicately chased with Tibetan inscrip-
tions, the bowl is modelled to represent a
human skull mounted on a pierced frame of
deaths' heads, but in each case it will be observed
that the round open head or handle is almost
identical with that of the dorje. It comes from
Lhassa, and singularly enough the metal workers
of Little Tibet cannot copy it, though what the
peculiar difficulty is I cannot quite understand. It
appears, however, that in Lhassa certain secrets of
smelting and producing bell-metal are carefully kept,
300
and remain unknown in the country regions. Possibly
the dorje pattern can only be properly fashioned
in these complex substances. At all events, the
Sacred and Secluded City is the fountain head ot
all art and knowledge. The sacred writings are
in the classical Lhassa dialect; the holy images of
gold and silver, the shrines inlaid with turquoise
and coral and cornelian, all come originally from
that centre, though the pattern may be modified in
different districts. For example, the silver amulets
or charm-boxes worn round the neck by both male
and female are of a peculiar rounded shape on the
southern Sikkim border, while in Lhassa and on
the west they are usually square, with an indication
of the cross. These are minor distinctions, not
affecting the artistic allegiance of all Tibetans to
their Rome.
TIBETAN FEMALE ORNAMENT
Another kind of flagon used for holy water is
very plain, with only a silver rim for orna-
ment, resembling somewhat a Western coffee-
pot in shape and characteristics. Ink - pots,
although not frequently met with, are sometimes
beautifully decorated. The exquisite simplicity
of the dainty oval of one in the writer's col-
lection, with the rich yet quiet beauty of
the carved silver lid, is very attractive. The
same collection contains a necklace such as is
universally worn by all except the very poorest
women in Western Tibet. It is of pendent silver
beads suspended from a circle of corals, and the
FEMALE ORNAMENT SHOWING THE CONTINUOUS PATTERN
WHICH IS SOMETIMES CONSIDERED SYMBOLICAL
OF ETERNAL LIFE
imperceptible or diners in character from that
alluded to above,
Other Tibetan objects of interest include beer
flagons and tea-churns, made of wood blackened
by generations of use, and clasped with fluted rims
of bright brass. The handles of the beer flagons
are often in the form of a dragon, reminding
the observer curiously of the similar design so
often found on early English black-oak settles
and chests.
One very remarkable design, constantly found
on religious instruments and vessels in Tibet, is
what may be called the dorje or thunderbolt
handle. Examples of this kind of decoration
are shown in the illustrations of the sacred
Lhassa bell on page 296, and the libation bowl
(page 295). The dorje is a small implement,
supposed to represent a thunderbolt, used in
certain religious ceremonies, being grasped in
the right hand of the monk or priest. The
bell is delicately chased with Tibetan inscrip-
tions, the bowl is modelled to represent a
human skull mounted on a pierced frame of
deaths' heads, but in each case it will be observed
that the round open head or handle is almost
identical with that of the dorje. It comes from
Lhassa, and singularly enough the metal workers
of Little Tibet cannot copy it, though what the
peculiar difficulty is I cannot quite understand. It
appears, however, that in Lhassa certain secrets of
smelting and producing bell-metal are carefully kept,
300
and remain unknown in the country regions. Possibly
the dorje pattern can only be properly fashioned
in these complex substances. At all events, the
Sacred and Secluded City is the fountain head ot
all art and knowledge. The sacred writings are
in the classical Lhassa dialect; the holy images of
gold and silver, the shrines inlaid with turquoise
and coral and cornelian, all come originally from
that centre, though the pattern may be modified in
different districts. For example, the silver amulets
or charm-boxes worn round the neck by both male
and female are of a peculiar rounded shape on the
southern Sikkim border, while in Lhassa and on
the west they are usually square, with an indication
of the cross. These are minor distinctions, not
affecting the artistic allegiance of all Tibetans to
their Rome.
TIBETAN FEMALE ORNAMENT
Another kind of flagon used for holy water is
very plain, with only a silver rim for orna-
ment, resembling somewhat a Western coffee-
pot in shape and characteristics. Ink - pots,
although not frequently met with, are sometimes
beautifully decorated. The exquisite simplicity
of the dainty oval of one in the writer's col-
lection, with the rich yet quiet beauty of
the carved silver lid, is very attractive. The
same collection contains a necklace such as is
universally worn by all except the very poorest
women in Western Tibet. It is of pendent silver
beads suspended from a circle of corals, and the