2170 An Important Set of Antique Tibetan Bardo Tsakli Tsakali Prayer Cards
Ancient Antique Tibetan Manuscript leaves with Paintings of Deities
PRICE ON REQUEST ($99999 is a dummy price)
Tibetan Bardo Tsakli cards with a total of 93 hand-painted figures
The set is hand painted and hand-inscribed and references the Bardo Thodol (Tibetan Book of the Dead) recitations.
Details:
One card depicting the Dharmachakra
One card depicting the Vajra
One card depicting the Yab Yum or sacred spiritual union
Several cards with a total of 50 Bodhisattva figures
Two cards with 8 Bodhisattva figures
One card with 6 Bodhisattva figures
Four cards with 5 Bodhisattva figures
Two cards with 4 Bodhisattva figures
Several cards with a total of 41 Wrathful figures
Two cards with 8 wrathful figures
Three cards with 7 wrathful figures
One card with 4 wrathful figures
SUMMARY OF FIGURES
Distinct bodies with detailed arms, legs, clothing (some with animal skins) and most importantly faces are seen. In four cards as many as eight figures are packed into a surface that is roughly the size of a hand. The pure scale of fitting 8 fully realized, multi-colored deities onto a tiny piece of handmade paper visually confirms that the artist had to use micro-lining brushes (like the 2-to-3 strand hair brushes) to prevent the outlines from turning into blurry.
Each figure is presented in a unique mudra or pose and zooming in shows varying expressions on the faces of the figures in the same card.
Each Tsakli has a text in Tibetan Ume mscript at the back that will be understood by those who know the subject.
The wide red border on each served a structural purpose, offering space for a lama to grip the card
Made of layered handmade paper. The set is held together with a leather string.
Jewel-like saturated colors.
Approx size 9.5 x 12.5 cm.
Edges damaged and some paint loss on all the cards. We can see prominent white flecks and edges where the paint has literally chipped off the paper over time (especially on the "8 FIGURES" card). Modern synthetic paints bend with paper; traditional mineral pigments dry stiff and brittle, meaning they naturally flake off in chunks like this after centuries of being handled.
Estimated to be from pre-1900s
More photos on request
Such high-quality Tsakli cards need a lot of luck to come by!
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This item has spent a lifetime being used for the purpose of its creation with the original artist/user. Signs of this life lived heartily may be present on the piece in the form of stains, thread loss, loose threads, holes, tears, color run and other imperfections. Therefore the condition must be assumed to be “not” perfect. More photos of such imperfections will be provided on request.
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