Placeholder
CollectorBuddha Thangka
Amitayus
Boundless Life
- 40 × 55 cm (15.7 × 21.7 in)
- Full 24K gold ground · Cinnabar · Silk brocade mount
- Painted to order · 56 days
$7,200
Series II · Masterworks
Kalachakra
Wheel of Time
Whole work, border to border
$14,500
Includes insured worldwide shipping and duties preparation. No tax is added at checkout.
1
Painted to order · Unique work
- Deity
- Kalachakra
- Dimensions
- 68 × 92 cm (26.8 × 36.2 in)
- Medium
- Mineral pigment, 24K gold leaf, Hand-ground lapis
- Edition
- Unique work
- Lead time
- 6 months to dispatch
- Series
- Series II · Masterworks
- Origin
- Hand-painted in the Kathmandu Valley
Certificate of Authenticity
Every work ships with a signed dossier recording deity, lineage, pigments, gold weight and the painter of record.
Provenance Dossier
Studio of origin, date of completion, consecration lineage and, where applicable, exhibition and publication history.
Worldwide Insured Shipping
Museum-grade packing, fully insured door-to-door, with customs documentation prepared on your behalf.
Private Returns Window
Live with the work for 14 days. If it is not right, return it for a full refund.
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The Work
Kalachakra, in detail
Wheel of Time
Kalachakra is painted on cotton prepared in the traditional way: sized, burnished with a smooth stone, and sealed before a single line is drawn. The composition is laid out on a measured grid, so that every figure, throne and lotus sits where the iconographic canon places it rather than where it looks balanced. Deviating from that grid is not a stylistic choice.
Colour is ground mineral — mineral pigment, 24k gold leaf, hand-ground lapis — worked into a hide-glue binder and applied in flat passages, then modelled in fine layers. This is why the palette does not fade under daylight the way a synthetic pigment does, and why the surface reads as depth rather than as paint when the light moves across it.
Gilding happens last, once the ground is fully cured. Gold is applied as leaf and burnished with agate to bring its brightness up, and it is never retouched afterwards: a single pass, so the light falls evenly across every gilded surface of the work. On a piece of 68 × 92 cm (26.8 × 36.2 in) that stage alone takes days.
Pigment
Malachite, lapis lazuli, cinnabar and orpiment, hand-ground and bound in animal hide glue.
Gold
24-karat leaf, laid by hand and burnished with agate. Never gold-coloured paint.
Ground
Prepared cotton, sized and stone-burnished. Supplied unmounted or on brocade.
Before you buy
Five questions worth answering
- How long does Kalachakra take to paint?
- Around 6 months from the day the commission is confirmed. Preparatory drawing, pigment grinding, the painting itself and the final gilding are separate stages, and gilding cannot be hurried — the gold is laid last and burnished with agate once the ground is fully cured.
- What are the exact dimensions of Kalachakra?
- The painted surface measures 68 × 92 cm (26.8 × 36.2 in). It is painted on prepared cotton and supplied unmounted, so it can be framed to your own specification. If you would like it mounted on brocade in the traditional manner, say so in your enquiry and we will quote for it.
- Is the gold real?
- Yes. The gilding is 24-karat gold applied by hand as leaf and burnished. Nothing on Kalachakra is gold-coloured paint, and the pigment is ground mineral — malachite, lapis lazuli, cinnabar and orpiment — bound in animal hide glue rather than modern acrylic.
- What comes with the work?
- Every acquisition ships with a signed certificate of authenticity and a provenance dossier recording the deity, the painter of record, the pigments and gold used, the studio of origin and the date of completion. Insured worldwide shipping is included.
- Can Kalachakra be consecrated before it ships?
- Yes, on request, and it happens before the work is packed. We arrange a qualified lama or practitioner according to the type of thangka, and the dossier records who performed the ceremony and in which lineage. Ask in your enquiry or when you confirm the commission — nothing is assumed on your behalf.
Still unresolved? A named specialist answers every enquiry — write to the studio.
Series II
All 12 worksMore from Masterworks
Placeholder
CollectorBuddha Thangka
Yellow Jambhala
Abundance
- 40 × 55 cm (15.7 × 21.7 in)
- 24K gold leaf · Orpiment yellow · Cotton ground
- Painted to order · 56 days
$7,800
Placeholder
CollectorBuddha Thangka
Vajrapani
Unshakeable Power
- 50 × 68 cm (19.7 × 26.8 in)
- Lapis lazuli · Malachite · 24K gold leaf
- Painted to order · 3 months
$8,900
Commission
This work can be painted to your measurements
Size, palette and consecration lineage are all specified at commission. Tell us about the space and we will return a brief with a painter, a timeline and a fixed price.