Tibetan Wood Carving tradition dates back to the seventh century. It was during the seventh century when our King Songtsen Gampo married the Nepalese Princess Bhrikuti of Nepal and Princess Wencheng of Tang Empire. For the marriage, both princesses brought holy statues from Nepal and Tang China. Upon the arrival in Lhasa, the Temple has to built to house those statues. Craftsmen from Tang and Nepal were invited to help build two temples in Lhasa; Jokhang and Ramoche. Skills from the invited craftsmen are later transferred to the local Tibetans. That is why the seventh century is considered as the beginning of all the Tibetan arts and crafts including the wood carving.
When you travel to Tibet, You can find Tibetan woodcarving works in the crossbeams of the Houses window, doors, and furniture. As other Tibetan art, The iconic motifs are often used in Tibetan woodcarving. Mountains, flowers, clouds, other elements of nature and religious symbols are used. All these iconic motifs must follow a standard layout. The artist must master a vast repertoire of designs and themes to become an expert carver.
The most common symbols to be carved are of the religious art including the Tashi Targye, the eight auspicious symbols. Which has an enormous spiritual significance? These motifs are the first designs that the student learns to make.
In the old days in Tibet, Woodcarvers are also worked as carpenters, architects, and engineers. They would construct beams of a building, and other essential parts in the structure. They have to master the complicated fashioning of joints to bear the weight of a structure. Even furniture is created with carved panels assemble to form the whole pieces with indigenous ways. The entire work of Tibetan woodwork would assemble without any hinges or nails.
The process of Tibetan Wood Carving
The images of the design are transferred to the flat surface of the wood. Tibetan bamboo fret saw is used for cutting out the holes in the images and chisels are used to carve the design on front and back and to create depth.
The training in Tibetan woodcarving
Initially, in practice for the wood carving, the student would focus on learning to draw the traditional design. They would be taught on making their own set of chisels and learn how to use them. The student would learn to make smaller pieces of work on softer wood before moving on for a more complex art on harder wood. Additionally, they also have to master the fundamental carpentry techniques of cutting and joining pieces of wood. At the end of their training, trainees learned the basic design, make elaborately carved thrones and cabinets the adorn the shrine-rooms and Alters of great homes and Monasteries.
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