Framed Tibetan Woven Silk Kesi Panel of Kirtimukha

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A woven silk Kesi panel depicts Kirtimukha from Tibet circa the second half of 20th century. Beautifully woven from short … Read more A woven silk Kesi panel depicts Kirtimukha from Tibet circa the second half of 20th century. Beautifully woven from short weft silk with superb coloring and delineation details, the bright colored panel was likely used as a curtain or banner for a doorway. The imagery is centered with ‘the face of glory’ known as Kirtimukha, an iconographic motif originated in Hinduism but widely used in Buddhism art, especially in the Himalayan region. The creature is characterized by a fierce lion-like face with bulging eyes, bushy eyebrows, horns, fangs and a gaping mouth in the motion of swallowing. He is bodyless except with two hands that gather long strings of jewels, which sometimes evolved into vegetation and even a snake/Naga in Nepalese art. He has a maned hair that was nicely embroidered in waving pattern. The arch above him is centered and crowned by a flaming jewel, framing his face below.
Kirtmukha, as an artistic motif, is widely used in South Indian architecture, surmounting the pinnacle of a temple or the image of a deity, or over the lintel of the gate to the shrine. In Tibetan Buddhism, it appears like a mask of a snow-lion, which provide guardianship and protection often on threshold of an entrance. See less