CIRCA: 1980’s
A matching pair of vintage Tibetan Gyatsen, i.e. ‘tubular’, silk brocade, religious ornamentation’s that are often hung from the ceiling on either side of a Tibetan altar, or on either side of a seated high Buddhist lama. They are made of variously coloured high quality pieces of silk brocade shaped into individual ‘tongues’ and then set into horizontal panels for the main lower part – and off the tip of each tounge on alternating panels hang variously coloured silk tassels approximately 15cm long – while the upper ‘solid’ portion is of blue silk with a silver design decoration. Inside they are backed with yellow cotton cloth. Gyatsen are made in various lengths / sizes, this pair are approximately 78cm long (plus hanging ‘tassel’ length) and are 22cm diameter across the top. They were collected almost new in the first half of the 1980’s in Bhodanath, Nepal (and have been stored in a trunk almost ever since, hence their immaculate condition). They are beautiful vintage pieces made of lovely high quality silk brocade with excellent workmanship and in excellent almost unused condition of a type not regularly seen on the open market, and are certainly not / were not simply ‘tourist items’.