Page 109 - Tibetan Thangka Painting Methodsand Mat, Jackson

Nine
Brushes

The brushes (piT) used by our main informants consisted Brush Hairs (piT spu)
of a brush tip of fine animal hairs attached to the
pointed tip of a characteristic type of wooden handle. In Central Tibet the painting tips of thangka painting
Brushes constructed in this manner contrast sharply brushes were commonly made from cat and goat hair.
with the Chinese style of paintbrush used throughout Our main informants made their finest brushes from cat
East Asia. The latter was usually made by bundling the hair. Painters from Eastern Tibet similarly asserted that
brush hairs together and inserting them as a plug into a cats provided excellent hairs for brush making, but they
hollow-ended handle. Although many Tibetan artists preferred the hairs of wild cats (ri'i zhim). Many painters
were familiar with Chinese-style brushes, most applied also valued the hairs of the sable or weasel.
their colours with brushes of the distinctively Tibetan Hairs used for brush making had to be straight,
"point-construction" type that they or their assistants glossy and resilient. For medium-sized brushes such as
made. those used for applying the main coats of colour (byug
piT), some artists used to collect suitable hairs from kid
goats. In Tibet the best goat hairs grew on the front
hooves and' muzzle of the animal, hairs from other
Brush Handles parts of the goat were too long or curly. Tibetan artists
living in non-mountainous parts of India or Nepal now
The process of brush making began with the preparation have to look higher on the goat's flank for suitable
of a suitable brush handle (piT mda '). Most handles were hairs because in the warmer climate the hairs on the
made from twigs of juniper (shugs pa) or coniferous hooves and muzzle are too short.! Larger brushes were
trees such as pine (thang shing). Occasionally an artist sometimes made from fine horse hairs, gathered from
might also make a particularly fine brush using a rare within the mane or from the chest or abdomen of the
wood such as sandalwood. In general for brush handles horse.
the artists preferred the woods of wholesome or For the small outline brushes (bead piT) a finer
medicinal trees (sman shing). hair was required, and this was usually obtained from
The artist began by whittling a suitably sized the pelts of cats, wild cats and sables. Good hairs could
stick of wood into a tapering shaft. When the basic be chosen by blowing gently onto a piece of the animal's
handle shape had been achieved he concentrated on fur and selecting those hairs which remained erect.
carving down the last half inch or so of the thicker end These upright hairs were more resilient, producing
of the handle, to produce a sharp projection that jutted a brush tip that was very pliable and suitable for fine
straight out from the end of the shaft. This projecting line work. These hairs occurred in the greatest numbers
point would serve as the base around which the hairs at the back of the neck, along the spine and at the base
were arranged and tied. of the eat's back, just above the tail.

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Brushes.

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