[HIMALAYAN BUDDHIST WOODBLOCK]

Printing Block for a Devotional Print or Prayer Flag

[Bhutan: circa 19th or early 20th century]. Carved wood printing block with upper handle pierced. Printing face carved in reverse with approximately 31 lines of Tibetan script surrounding a central seated Buddhist figure above a small shrine or auspicious motif. Reverse side not carved. Wood darkened by oil and pigment. Printing surface size: 14 3/4 x 10 1/2 inches. Overall size (including handle): 18 5/8 x 11 1/2 inches.

A Himalayan Buddhist woodblock of Bhutanese origin, carved with Tibetan script and devotional imagery for the printing of a religious text, prayer flag, or related sacred image.

This printing block belongs to the woodblock printing traditions of the Himalayan Buddhist world. The dense script and central religious image suggest a devotional function, placing the block among those used for prayer flags, amuletic prints, or image-bearing religious impressions, distinct from the long, narrow blocks used for books in pecha format. Although it is possible that the central figure may represent the Buddha, the ornamented appearance, seated posture, aureole, and surrounding iconographic details suggest that it could also depict a bodhisattva or tantric deity. The small motif below appears to function as an auspicious or shrine like element within the overall design. In Bhutan, woodblock carving is known as par-zo, a traditional art whose origins are traced to the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. Its primary purpose was the printing and dissemination of religious texts in large quantities. Hardwoods such as la-tag (birch), tsen-den (cypress), and ta-go (walnut) were used for engraving, with la-tag generally preferred for its availability and its suitability for fine carving. Once the engraving was complete, the blocks were soaked in very hot mustard oil, a traditional method of treating the wood to harden and preserve it, protect it from pests and decay, and make it more resistant to moisture. In a Buddhist context, engraved woodblocks were revered not simply as printing tools, but as objects associated with the sacred transmission of Buddhist teaching. Scriptures printed from them were regarded as blessed and authoritative, embodying the speech of the Buddha and other enlightened beings. Such texts were read, recited, and sometimes carried in procession through villages to ward off harmful influences and to invoke rain, good harvests, peace, and tranquillity. Both the carving process and the objects produced by it remain integral to Bhutan's cultural heritage.

Item #19212

Price: $5,250.00