A thangka is drawn to measure: the width of a face, the length of a hand, the curve of a halo, all kept to proportions painters have handed down for centuries. Ours keep those measures. Each is our own drawing, printed on heavy card, then finished by hand at a temple and framed in silk brocade, ready to hang. Part of every order goes back to that temple, so every thangka here is also an offering.
Green Tara with Five Buddhas
Vairocana Thangka with Peonies
Je Tsongkhapa Thangka
Lion's Roar Manjushri Thangka
Marici Black & Gold Thangka
Cundi Thangka
Akashagarbha Thangka
Green Tara Thangka, Night Blue
Marici Thangka
Vairocana Buddha Thangka
Six-Armed Mahakala Thangka
Manjushri Thangka
Shakyamuni Buddha Thangka
Amitabha Black & Gold Thangka
Amitabha Buddha Thangka
A thangka is a Tibetan Buddhist image of a deity, traditionally painted on cotton and mounted in silk brocade as a hanging scroll. The word is usually explained as "something unrolled": many were kept rolled around a wooden rod at the foot and opened out to be hung. Most were made for personal meditation and teaching; the largest were unrolled against monastery walls on festival days. History, the main types, and how a traditional one is painted: What Is a Thangka?
Amitabha, the Buddha of Boundless Light, also in black and gold and in a full composition with Shakyamuni, Tsongkhapa and the Medicine Buddha; Shakyamuni, touching the earth; the Medicine Buddha; and four-faced Vairocana, on blue or among peonies. See all Buddha thangkas.
Green Tara on red, on night blue and with the Five Buddhas; Kurukulla with her bow of flowers; Marici, goddess of dawn, on her chariot of boars and standing in black and gold; Cundi; and Palden Lhamo on her mule. See all Tara and goddess thangkas.
Manjushri with his flaming sword, on a snow lion and in white; Akashagarbha, under a rainbow or in black and gold; Je Tsongkhapa; Yellow Jambhala; and Six-Armed Mahakala. See all bodhisattva and protector thangkas.
Six of our designs are drawn in fine gold line on a black ground, with the deity in colour at the centre: Black & Gold Thangkas.
We want to be plain about this. Our thangkas are not hand-painted. We draw each deity ourselves, on the traditional proportions, and print the drawing on heavy card. That is what lets more homes live with one.
The hand work comes next. Each print goes to a temple, where elderly lay Buddhists who practise there set the glass crystals one at a time and trace the outlines in gold glitter. One thangka takes them about two days. Part of every order goes back to that temple. If you are looking for a painting on cotton by a single artist, these are something different, and we would rather you knew before you order.
If you wish, any of them can also be consecrated: choose Temple consecration on the thangka's page (+US$100, offered in full to the temple). Your thangka spends a night in the temple's main hall and the monks consecrate it the next morning. Consecrated thangkas ship in 5–7 business days and are final sale unless they arrive damaged. More on Consecration.
Every design comes in one size: the frame is 55 × 71 × 12 cm (21.7 × 28 × 4.7 in) and weighs about 4 kg; the image is 40.2 × 56.2 cm (15.8 × 22.1 in). It sits inside a silk brocade frame-within-a-frame, in a wood frame with an acrylic front. You choose the brocade:
Each thangka arrives ready to hang. At 4 kg it needs a fixing that will carry the weight, and it is kinder to the colours away from strong direct sun. Where to place it, the etiquette around it, and how to look after it: How to Hang a Thangka.
Every thangka is finished to order and ships framed within 3–5 business days. It travels by air, tracked, and arrives in about 10–14 business days. Shipping is free and we pay the import duties.
