The fifth art of thangka, thangka mounting

After Thangka is finished, silk should be sewn and mounted on the four sides of the picture. This kind of sewn silk is called "Gongxia". "Gongxia" can be made of various kinds of silk, and the size ratio is relatively fixed. The length of the next picture in Gongxia is about 1/2 of the picture, and the next picture is slightly longer; The length of the upper picture accounts for about 1/2 of the length of the lower picture, which is 1/4 of the center picture.

Thangka has two red or yellow ribbons around the picture, which is called "rainbow" in Tibetan. The width of each color band is1/2 of the left and right side plates; If there is only one ribbon, the width is 65438+ 0/4 of the frame, and the other 3/4 of the frame is lined with silk.

Sometimes you can see a beautiful brocade in the center of Gong Xia's next picture. The color of this brocade is uncertain, and its shape can be square, horizontal rectangle or vertical rectangle. Brocade is located in the center of the picture below Thangka, accounting for about 1/3 of the area below, and is called "Dunga" or "Lift". Sometimes there is such a brocade in the center of Gong Xia's last picture.

The lining on the back of Thangka can be cotton, silk, cotton satin, etc. Generally speaking, the lining only sticks to the "under the palace" part of Thangka, not the picture part; Thangka has a black lining on the whole back. There are also some thangkas, although the back is fully mounted, but after mounting, do a flip on the back of the picture, so that you can see the words written on the back of thangkas. In this case, the back of Thangka picture and the two bottom edges of the lining are usually fixed together, but people have to open the lining page to see the words on the back.

The two sides in front of Thangka are finally locked with red lines. It is worth noting that when sewing and mounting, the bottom edge of Thangka is supported by a round wooden stick called "Cheng Tang" or "unpaid". Determine the thickness of "Tang salary" according to the size of Thangka. Generally, the length of "Tang salary" is basically the same as the width of Thangka, and something 3 cm wider than Thangka can grow at both ends, with symmetrical covers made of gold, silver or bronze at both ends, that is, shaft heads. With "Tangfeng", it is much more convenient to roll up Tangka, so Tangka is also called scroll painting.

At the top of Thangka, there is a flat board called "Gasheng" or "Gongsheng", which is sewn under the satin of "Gongxia" to support the picture of Thangka. The two ends of the batten are tapered to make its cross section look like a small wooden wedge, the length is the same as the width of Thangka, and the two sides should not protrude.

In front of Thangka, there is a face cover made of silk to cover the whole Thangka. The best kind of silk is "top silk", which is soft yellow with red and green spots. The cover is made of red, yellow and blue strips alternately, or only one color strip is used as the cover. The cover is sewn on the top of Thangka, and there are some folds in the center of the cover. Thangkas painted with gods and protectors are also white, yellow, blue, green and so on. However, the surfaces of this Thangka are not sewn together, but separated. There is a row of pleated hanging cloth along the upper part of Thangka cover, which is about 8 cm long and made of red silk.

If the width of Thangka is divided into four parts, there are two ribbons hanging on the left and right quarters, and the width of each ribbon is equal to half of the edge of Gongxia. The ribbon hangs down to the bottom of Thangka, and the bottom of the ribbon is bird's beak, which is called "bird's beak". After the cover is put down, two ribbons are hung outside the cover and separated from the cover. This way, you can just roll up the cover and let the ribbons on both sides hang directly in front of the face painting. At the top of Thangka, there is a string between two ribbons to fasten the cover. After the cover is rolled up, fold it with this string and fasten it. There is also a cloth rope on the string to hang the whole Thangka, or after Thangka is wrapped, tie it with a cloth rope.