Skip to content
Series I · Foundation

Medicine Buddha

Healing Light

Whole work, border to border

Medicine Buddha · Full composition

Placeholder

Press Escape or select Close to return.

$5,200

Includes insured worldwide shipping and duties preparation. No tax is added at checkout.

1

Painted to order · Unique work

Deity
Bhaisajyaguru
Dimensions
30 × 40 cm (11.8 × 15.7 in)
Medium
Lapis lazuli, Cinnabar, Cotton ground
Edition
Unique work
Lead time
28 days to dispatch
Series
Series I · Foundation
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.

Visa · Mastercard · Amex · Apple Pay · PayPal

The Work

Medicine Buddha, in detail

Healing Light

Medicine Buddha 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 — lapis lazuli, cinnabar, cotton ground — 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 30 × 40 cm (11.8 × 15.7 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 Medicine Buddha take to paint?
Around 28 days 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 Medicine Buddha?
The painted surface measures 30 × 40 cm (11.8 × 15.7 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 Medicine Buddha 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 Medicine Buddha 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 I

More from Foundation

All 12 works
Placeholder
EntryBuddha Thangka

Shakyamuni Buddha

The Awakened One

  • 26 × 34 cm (10.2 × 13.4 in)
  • Hand-ground mineral pigment · Cotton ground · 24K gold highlights
  • Painted to order · 21 days

$4,200

Placeholder
EntryBuddha Thangka

Green Tara

Swift Compassion

  • 30 × 40 cm (11.8 × 15.7 in)
  • Malachite green · Lapis lazuli · Cotton ground
  • Painted to order · 28 days

$4,800

Placeholder
EntryBuddha Thangka

White Tara

Boundless Life

  • 30 × 40 cm (11.8 × 15.7 in)
  • White mineral ground · 24K gold leaf · Silk mount
  • Painted to order · 35 days

$5,600

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.