Tibetan Buddhist Brass Mould

Unusually Large Cast Brass 38-Buddha Image Buddhakshetra Votive Plaque Mould

Tibet

18th-19th century

height: 29.2cm, width: 22.4cm, weight: 4,584g

This large cast brass mould was used in Tibet to make votive plaques. Clay mixed with ritual materials such as ground incense, grains and/or the ashes of a sacred individual would have been pressed into the mould, removed and then dried in the sun. (Prosser, 2010, p. 87). Called a tsha-tsha in Tibet, such a plaque increased the Buddhist merit attributable to the individual who commissioned it, and even to those who viewed it. Tsha-tshas often were left as offerings at sites of pilgrimage.

The example here is unusually large. It is cast with 37 Buddha images around a central Buddha image accompanied by two attendees. Such a field of Buddhas was known as a

Buddhakshetra (Buddha Field). Each of the Buddha images sits cross-legged but with the hands and arms arrayed in different poses (mudras).

The brass mould here is in excellent condition. It is sculptural in its own right.

References

Proser, A., (ed.), Pilgrimage and Buddhist Art, Asia Society Museum/Yale University Press, 2010.

Provenance

UK art market

Inventory no.: 3511

SOLD

The reverse of the mould.