Research

The Nako paintings are important as documents of material culture in their depictions of architecture, donors, costumes, and textile motifs. The ornament of the exquisite textile depictions on the ceilings and in the wall paintings can be related to the art of Tabo during the Renovation Phase (1042), and to the newly excavated mChod-rten in Tholing (mTho-gling, today within the borders of Chinese Tibet) from the same period, as well as to the Dung-dkar caves (around 1200, Chinese Tibet). Some of the panels show depictions of printed cotton cloths and luxurious textiles like silk brocades.

NakoL-CL98-28,41



The great variety of textile depictions and their careful rendering provide evidence of the use of sumptuous garments in the dressing of Buddhist temples, as well as the cultural and economic transfers along the trade routes. These features in the art of Nako clearly indicate the regional impact of the rich and diverse Western Tibetan culture. The study of ornaments - subject of this author’s ongoing research ( see overview of research interests on the FSP-homepage) - provides a vast material for the analysis of cultural transmission in terms of motifs and surface patterns. However, there exists a wide range of varieties of ornamental language in the Western Himalayan region which differs profoundly in function, meaning as well as aesthetic values. A future task of collaborative and interdisciplinary investigations will be to reconstruct the process of adaptation of the Kashmiri, North-West Indian, and Central Asian traditions to the unique needs of the newly founded Buddhist monasteries and their Tibetan patrons in the Western Himalaya.

Ass. Mag. Christiane Papa-Kalantari