Welcome to Thangka.ws, site dedicated to Tibetan Thang Ka.

Since 2006, Thangka has been included in the first national list of intangible cultural heritage protection. With the Tibetlogy boom Thangka has also been gaining attention among collectors.

In recent times, the Ming and Qing Thangka have become a major focus of auction markets. The works of Thangka masters and many other contemporary works are also frequently sold in the tens of thousands of dollars, few have even reached tens of millions of yuan. According to insiders, from 2000 to date, the price of Thangka has nearly jumped 10 times.

According to Professor Xie Ji-sheng, with the opening and maturity of the art market, more art forms have gained exposure through the auction markets allowing Thangka to be seriously appreciated as one of the earlier art forms. How a Thangka is valued is affected by its art style and genre, the complexity of the painting, material texture and quality. No less is the value also dependent upon the skill of the artist. A skilled artist takes about 6 to 8 months to complete a Thangka of one squared meter in size, based on a daily work schedule of 6 to 8 hours. To account for the length of careful production, such a Thangka will typically sell for 30,000 RMB or higher. Therefore, a high quality Thangka of significant size will be correspondingly valued higher.

Thangka is first and foremost a kind of religious painting, so for a good Thangka artist who worships the Buddha will go to no ends to ensure the best quality of materials used for coloring, such as grinding of pearls and corals for white and red, turquoise for green and solid gold used to make gold foils resulting in the richest coloring. It is precisely because these minerals that the Thangka is known for its colors being resistant to fading even for centuries.

In addition, the Thangka until today is still mainly a form of virtuous duty by artist for the temple, some to decorate temples, some used to form lasting bonds with people to the living Buddha. But over time the development of Thangka has come out of the scope of religion and emerged as a pure and beautiful art form.

Turning to the future of Thangka collection trends, Xie Ji-sheng said that the value of this art form will continue to rise given the increasing attention given to the Tibetan culture.