Inventory no.: 4432

Tibetan Tockcha, Thokcha, Togcha, Thogchag, Thogchak, Tokche, Thog-lcag

SOLD

Feline-shaped Sleeve Weight Talisman or Tokcha

Tibet and China

Eastern Chou Period, 6th-5th century BC

length: 5.1cm, height: 2.8cm, weight: 19g

This well-worn tokcha originally served as a sleeve weight. Cast in bronze as a dog or leopard-like creature curled up in a sleeping pose, it was made in China around the 6th-5th century BC. A related example is illustrated in Bunker, Chatwin & Farkas (1970, p. 92). The form is similar to jade carvings at the time and based on the typical Scythian curled feline form.

From China, it likely travelled to Tibet, where it was worn as a

tokcha or magical talismanic device.Tokchas (also spelt as thokcha, tokche, thogchak, thog-lcag, or thogchag) are small ‘found’ ancient, sacred objects that went on to serve as votive talismans, and which were valued for their magical properties. Usually they are of bronze or copper alloy. Many are believed to also contain some meteoric metal. Tibetans highly prized them and would wear them to protect them and to absorb evil. Usually they were hung from the neck or attached to clothing, but also were sewn onto amulet pouches or attached to religious articles. They were also used by Tibetan sharmans – healers, spirit-mediums and magicians – as part of their ‘tools’ of trade.

Particularly effective or powerful

tokchas would be sold on or passed down through the generations. Accordingly, genuine and powerful tokchas should show a great deal of wear, as in the case of the example here.

It is likely that many

tokchas originally were belt fittings or ornaments either from Tibet or from the Eurasian Steppes and Central Asia or Persia, and were traded into Tibet along Silk Road trading routes. Others were purpose-made as talismans, which explains why some genuine tokchas can be very similar. The traditional belief however, was that tokchas were not made by humans and even that they had simply fallen from the sky. The animal motifs employed in many tokchas suggest a linkage to Tibet’s pre-Buddhist Bon past. (Buddhism was introduced to Tibet in the early 7th century.)

Four

tokchas comprised lot 3056, in Bonham’s New York sale, ‘Indian, Himalayan & Southeast Asia Art’, March 13, 2017. See those

here

. And see another example

here

.

The example here is in a stable and wearable condition. As mentioned, it has an exceptional patina and obvious antiquity. It was acquired from the estate of a private English collector who built up a fine collection of

tokchas over his lifetime.

References

Bashkanov, M., M. Bashkanov, P. Petrov, & N. Serikoff, Arts from the Land of Timur: An Exhibition from a Scottish Private Collection, Sogdiana Books, 2012.

Bunker, E.C., C.B. Chatwin & A.R. Farkas,

‘Animal Style’ Art from East to West, The Asia Society, 1970.

Heller, A.,

Early Himalayan Art, Ashmolean Museum, 2008.

Reynolds, V.

et al, From the Sacred Realm: Treasures of Tibetan Art from the Newark Museum, Prestel, 1999.

So, J.F., & E.C. Bunker,

Traders and Raiders on China’s Northern Frontier, Arthur M. Sackler Gallery/University of Washington Press, 1995.

Provenance

private collection, UK.

Inventory no.: 4432

SOLD

here