page_title: Conservation and restoration of Tibetan thangkas
section_title: Ethical considerations
hierarchical_section_title: Conservation and restoration of Tibetan thangkas / Ethical considerations
caption_attribution_description: English: A puja held at the Gaden Shartse Dro-Phen Ling, a Tibetan Gelug Buddhist centre in Singapore.
context_page_description: The conservation and restoration of Tibetan thangkas is the physical preservation of the traditional religious Tibetan painting form known as a thangka. When applied to thangkas of significant cultural heritage, this activity is generally undertaken by a conservator-restorer.
  Thangkas are scroll painting that are vertical in format, usually in a size that is easy rolled up, often about half to one and a half meters high, although large thangkas for special ceremonies can require dozens of people to unroll and display them. Like religious wall paintings, thangkas are considered to function as intermediaries between the mortal and divine worlds.
  The thangka started off as a traditional Nepalese art form. This form was originally exported to Tibet after Princess Bhrikuti of Nepal married Songtsän Gampo. In the early days, these painted scrolls became very popular with travelling monks because of their portability. During the Ming and Qing Dynasty, the painting of thangkas flourished in Tibet.
context_section_description: Some early conservation treatment of thangkas involved the following well-intentioned mistakes: 
  removed and discarded the mounting altogether and treated the painting with methods appropriate for a Western oil painting; including matting and framing the painting in a Western aesthetic
  removed and discarded the mounting and treated the painting with methods appropriate for a Chinese or Japanese scroll painting on silk or paper, then mounted the painting in a scroll-painting aesthetic
  left the painting in the mounting and lined it in-situ with a method appropriate for a Western-style painting
  in-painted without an understanding of the iconography or original painting methods
  left the painting in place in the mounting and trimmed the top and bottom dowels off, then framed the entire thangka in a traditional Western-style frame
  removed and discarded the cover
  given every mounting a strong chemical treatment for bacterial growth, when perhaps mild cleaning, airing, and proper display and storage would have sufficed
  lined the paintings with an aqueous adhesive mixture of animal glue and wheat flour, risking moisture penetrating the ground and paint layers from behind.
  Before undertaking conservation, it is important for conservators to take into consideration the iconographic content and social significance. Ideally, no aspect of the treatment must compromise the original purpose of the object. To acquire and apply this attitude of respect requires extensive research into the cultural significance of the object to be treated and the materials and methods of its construction. Such research requires informants from the culture, both artists and religious authorities. Conservators need also to recognize that the brocade and the mounting technique are integral to the piece, and must retain these elements as much as possible.
caption: Thangkas on the wall during a Tibetan Buddhist puja
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