A buyer's guide to Green Tara wall art: how to check the image, what kind of thangka you are looking at, and how to match one to a room.
To choose a Green Tara thangka, first check that the image really is Green Tara: a green figure with her right leg extended onto a small lotus, her right hand open over the knee in the gesture of giving, and her left hand at the heart holding the stem of a blue utpala. Then decide which kind of thangka you want and can afford, because a hand-painted original, a workshop painting, a printed reproduction and a printed-and-hand-finished piece are different things at different prices. After that, choose by composition, ground colour, frame and size, in that order, for the room it will hang in. This guide takes those steps one at a time, and ends with an honest note on each of our eight designs.
If you want the background first, our pillar article on Green Tara covers who she is and where her image comes from, and What Is a Thangka? covers the form itself.
What a Green Tara thangka should show
Not every image sold as "Tara" is Green Tara; some show another figure or a loose decorative version. A few checks settle it. Jeff Watt of Himalayan Art Resources (HAR), in his page on Green Tara iconography, describes the forms as having "one face and two hands, green in colour", "seated with the right leg extended and the left drawn up." HAR's entry for an eighteenth-century Green Tara in the Rubin Museum of Art (F1997.6.5) is more exact: the right leg rests "on a small moon and lotus cushion," and she performs "the mudra (gesture) of generosity with the right hand extended over the knee."
Use this as a checklist:
- Green body. HAR's descriptions often give her colour as "emerald green."
- Right leg extended onto a small lotus. This is the quickest test. A figure with both legs folded is not Green Tara; the seven-eyed White Tara, for example, sits that way. The differences are set out in Green Tara vs White Tara.
- Right hand in the giving gesture. Palm out, fingers pointing down, over the right knee.
- Left hand at the heart holding a flower stem. A text by Thartse Panchen Namka Chime quoted on HAR has her left hand hold "with the thumb and ring finger an utpala to the heart." In many paintings the blue utpala opens at her left shoulder, and a second flower may open at the right.
- Peaceful ornaments. HAR's iconography page says the forms "are peaceful in appearance with corresponding ornaments," and Namka Chime's text has her "wearing beautiful jewel ornaments and various silks." Nothing wrathful.
If all five are there, it is Green Tara. If not, ask the seller which figure it is.
The kinds of thangka on the market
"Thangka" covers several kinds of object. None is a fake if it is described honestly. They differ in making, time and cost.
Hand-painted originals by a named painter
These are painted on prepared cloth with ground mineral and organic pigments, following the traditional measuring grid. The Rubin Museum's Project Himalayan Art describes painters "using mineral pigments on prepared cloth or silk canvases." It is generally the slowest kind to make and usually the most expensive to buy. If you are buying one, ask who painted it, what it is painted on, and whether the pigments are mineral.
Hand-painted workshop pieces
Many painted thangkas come from workshops rather than from one named painter. Quality varies widely, from careful work to quick work. They often cost less than a named painter's original. Look closely at the face, the hands and the line work.
Printed reproductions
A printed reproduction is a photograph or scan of a painting, printed on paper, canvas or cloth. It is the most affordable way to have the image. Woodblock printing is long established in Tibet. HAR lists "painted prints", called parma, as a category of its own: "pressed from wood blocks onto cotton then painted and framed as tangkas."
Printed and hand-finished pieces, like ours
Ours are this last kind, and we want to say it plainly. Each design is our own drawing, kept to traditional proportions, printed on heavy card with eco-friendly inks. It is not hand-painted and it is not mineral pigment. Each piece is then finished by hand at a temple by elderly lay Buddhists: glass crystals are set one by one and the outlines are traced in gold glitter, which takes about two days per piece. The crystals are glass, not gems, and the glitter is not gilding. Part of every order goes back to that temple. Our Green Tara thangkas start at US$570, framed.
Which kind is right depends on what you want. If you want a painter's hand and the traditional materials, buy a painting, and expect to pay more. If you want the image on your wall, carefully drawn and finished, a print or a printed-and-finished piece is an honest choice, provided the seller tells you which it is.
Choosing by composition
Many Green Tara thangkas show her alone, on a lotus throne, sometimes under an arch or within a halo of flowers. A single figure reads clearly from across a room. It suits a smaller wall and a simple room.
Other compositions add figures around her. In some, she is flanked by the two attendants of her Khadira Forest form, orange Marichi and black Ekajati, as in the text by Namka Chime quoted on HAR. In others, buddhas appear in a row above and protectors below. Our Green Tara with Five Buddhas and protectors has five buddhas along the top, Garuda and naga maidens at the top of the throne back, a white elephant, and below her Six-Armed Mahakala and Vaishravana on a snow lion. HAR describes Vaishravana as "the Guardian King of the Northern Direction" and "a worldly guardian worshipped as both a protector and benefactor." A fuller composition rewards a closer look and wants a wall you can stand near.
Choosing by ground colour and by room
The figure stays the same. The ground, the colour behind her, changes the feel:
- Red and crimson grounds are warm and traditional. They hold their own on a pale wall and in a room with wood.
- Night-blue and starry grounds are quieter. They suit a study, a meditation corner or a bedroom.
- Black and gold is formal and graphic. It works on a white or light grey wall where the gold can show.
- Jade green keeps everything in her own colour. It is calm and less contrasted.
- Blue and silver has a modern feel and sits well with cool, minimal rooms.
Look at the room's light too. Gold glitter and glass crystals catch side light, so a piece near a window or a lamp will move with the day. They should not sit in direct sun, which our hanging guide explains.
The brocade frame
A traditional thangka is mounted in silk brocade. Ours keep that as a silk brocade frame-within-a-frame, inside a wood frame with an acrylic front. You choose one of four brocades: Night Sky (blue, for a quiet room), Ink & Gold (black, deeper and more formal), Crimson Cloud (red, for warmth) and Warm Sun (for a room that gets the morning). Any design can take any of the four. A brocade that echoes the ground feels unified; one that contrasts makes the centre stand out.
Size and weight
Measure your wall before you buy. Every one of our Green Tara thangkas is the same size: the frame is 55 × 71 × 12 cm (21.7 × 28 × 4.7 in) and the image is 40.2 × 56.2 cm (15.8 × 22.1 in). Framed, each weighs about 4 kg. It needs rated hooks and, in drywall, anchors sized for the load. Our guide on how to hang and care for a thangka covers fixings, height, light and cleaning in detail.
Consecration
In Tibetan Buddhism, a painting or statue is traditionally blessed by a rite called rabne (rab gnas). Jeff Watt writes on HAR that it can be as simple as a monk, a religious figure, or "even a lay practitioner or devotee" reciting prayers or mantras and "throwing a few grains of rice or flowers onto the object", and that "the Sanskrit mantras of OM, AH, and HUM are often written on the back of a painting." Lotsawa House publishes several consecration rites in translation.
With us, consecration is optional. If you choose temple consecration (US$100, offered in full to the temple), your thangka spends a night as an offering in the temple's main hall, and the monks consecrate it the next morning. It then ships in 5 to 7 business days. A consecrated thangka is final sale unless it arrives damaged; unconsecrated pieces are covered by our 30-day returns. The details are on our consecration page.
We do not claim that a thangka, consecrated or not, brings luck, protection, healing or any other effect.
Care and placement, briefly
Hang it out of direct sun and away from radiators, damp and kitchen steam. Clean the acrylic with a soft, slightly damp microfibre cloth, never with window spray. Tibetan guidance on placement is about respect. Ven. Tenzin Yignyen, in an interview on Tibetan altars, says an altar should be "in a clean and respectful place, higher than the level of your head as you sit facing it." Everything else is in How to Hang and Care for a Thangka.
Our eight Green Taras at a glance
All eight share size, frame, making and price.
| Design | What it is like |
|---|---|
| On a red ground | Red peonies and clouds, orange halo, a jewelled arch with red and blue crystals. Warm and traditional. |
| On night blue | Red and white peonies on a deep blue ground with a red halo. Quiet, and good for a bedroom or study. |
| With Five Buddhas and protectors | The fullest composition, with buddhas above and Mahakala and Vaishravana below. Best where you can stand close. |
| Crimson with blue peonies | A crimson ground with blue peonies and a blue halo ringed with gold studs. Strong contrast. |
| On jade green | Green on green, with a pale gold halo and a tall crown of gold studs. The calmest of the eight. |
| Black and gold | Gold foliage and clouds on black, two rings of red crystals round the halo. Formal and graphic. |
| Blue and silver | Silver peonies on deep blue, deep blue crystals round the halo. The most modern in feel. |
| Starry sky with peonies | A starry night ground, golden and pink peonies, a crystal-set golden mandorla. The most ornate. |
You can see them side by side in our Green Tara thangkas collection.
Green Tara thangka questions
How can I tell if a thangka is really Green Tara?
Check for a green body, the right leg extended onto a small lotus, the right hand open over the knee in the giving gesture, and the left hand at the heart holding a blue utpala stem. If both legs are folded, it is a different figure.
Is a printed thangka still a thangka?
A thangka is a Tibetan Buddhist image mounted to hang, and printed ones have a long history; HAR lists painted woodblock prints as their own category. A print is not a painting, though, and it should never be sold as one. Ours are printed and hand-finished, and we say so.
Does a thangka need to be consecrated?
Not to hang on a wall. In the tradition, sacred images are blessed by a rite called rabne, which HAR notes can be done by a monk or even a lay practitioner. With us, temple consecration is an option at checkout, and consecrated pieces are final sale unless damaged.
Where should a Green Tara thangka be placed?
Ven. Tenzin Yignyen, speaking of Tibetan altars, advises a clean, respectful place, higher than your head as you sit facing it. He adds that in a bedroom it should be near the head of the bed, never at the foot. The sources we have read give no compass direction.
What size thangka for a living room?
Measure the wall and leave space around the piece. A frame of 55 × 71 cm, like ours, suits a wall above a sideboard or a low shelf, or a narrower wall on its own. Allow for the weight: ours are about 4 kg.
What is your returns policy?
You can return an unconsecrated thangka within 30 days. A consecrated thangka is final sale unless it arrives damaged.
Choose the image first, then the kind of object, then the colour and the wall. If the figure is right and the seller is honest about how it was made, the rest is a matter of what you want to live with.
Right foot down, ready to rise; the right hand open; the flower held at the heart.
All Green Tara Thangkas · Green Tara with Five Buddhas · Consecration · Thangka collection
More from the Journal: Green Tara · Green Tara vs White Tara · The Green Tara Mantra · Green Tara in Art · How to Hang and Care for a Thangka · What Is a Thangka?