Sculpture

Metal, clay, stucco, wood, stone, and butter are all used in the creation of sculptural images. Clay and stucco have been used since ancient times, particularly in the creation of very large images installed in monasteries and temples. Wood is also widely used, intricately carved for entrances to temples and for interior pillars and in covers for scriptures in monastery libraries.

Tibetan sculpture, often in the form of gilt bronze statuettes, consists of slim, elegant figures with heart-shaped heads, resembling the Indian Pala or Nepalese figures and frequently ornamented with elaborate jewels. Bronzes are usually made by the 'lost wax process', where a wax image is created, then coated with a clay based mould which is subsequently baked allowing the wax to melt and drain away, replacing it with molten metal. The finished image is often then gilded and adorned with precious and semi precious stones. Metal images are also sometimes made by the repousse method, where copper, or less commonly silver or gold, is hammered out into the required shape from the reverse side.

Works of art are usually commissioned, either by monasteries or lay patrons, and their execution generally follows strict canonical rules as to proportions, symbols and colors, in accordance with artistic manuals.

Tibetan art is largely anonymous, and this custom of artistic anonymity is grounded in the Buddhist belief in working toward the elimination of the individual ego. The Tibetan attitude to a work of art is that when it is successfully completed it has an existence of its own and an inherent power to help the viewer come to spiritual realization. It ceases to be the property of the artist when it leaves his studio.