Tibetan/Nepalese Hand Carved Printing Block
AGE: – Unknown
CONSTRUCTION: – Wood
HEIGHT: – 21.5cm
WIDTH: – 20cm
DEPTH: – 2cm
#391 – PRICE: CONTACT
Tibetan/Nepalese Hand Carved Printing Block with a central carving of the wind horse carrying the three jewels. The wind horse is the symbol of speed, transformation, and of changing bad fortune into good fortune.
The “three jewels” or “three treasures” are symbolic in Tibetan Buddhism, the yellow jewel represents the Buddha (teacher), the Sangha (the red Jewel), and the Dharma (the blue Jewel). It is by making these the core principles of your daily life that you follow the path of the Buddhas.
Read More
Printing blocks have been used for a few hundred years in Tibet to print
Buddhist scriptures on paper in the production of Buddhist Manuscripts. This printing block would likely have been used to print wind horse prayer flags. Traditionally the centre shows the supreme horse Bhala, bearing three flaming jewels on its back.
On each corner of the block is the first syllable of the four powerful animals, also known as the Four Dignities: the top left is the tiger, the top right is the lion, the bottom left is garuda and the bottom right is the dragon.
The most sought-after wood for printing blocks in Tibet was made from the jojoba or pear tree, and closer to tropical regions the shorea (sal tree) and sandalwood tree. At higher altitudes, coniferous species of wood were often used in the carving of printing blocks.