Page 106 - Tibetan Thangka Painting Methodsand Mat, Jackson

Jampa applying gold detail.

The Application of Gold the merit commensurately greater. Once the amount of
gold had been determined by patron and painter, it was
Gold was the last pigment to be laid down over large the duty of the painter to see to it that every bit of the
areas of the painting. Since gold needed a smooth gold was used as intended.
undercoat when applied as a solid colour to a sizable With the exception of a few recent paintings,
area, its application was postponed until after the nearly every thangka used at least a little real gold. One
scraping of the initial coats of colour and the subsequent can discern at least four degrees of gold use in thangka
dusting and cleaning of the painting surface. Another painting. The ultimate application is the full-gold
reason was that no painter would ever scrape off and thangka (gser thang), where the composition was
thus waste any of this precious pigment. The gold used rendered with a bare minimum of dyes and pigments
in Tibetan painting was thought of as a pious offering; over a solid field of unburnished gold. A middling use is
although the merit (bsod nams) of the painting project found in paintings where the main figures, together
depended mainly on the attitude and motivation of with many details and outlines, have been rendered with
those involved, the offering of more gold could make gold paint. The minimum use is when only outlines and

102 TECHNIQUES OF PAINT PREPARATION AND APPLICATION