All images in this 'tangka' or ritual hanging are appliquéd with fragments of imperial silks from the Wanli period of the Ming dynasty (1573-1619). Silks woven as imperial commissions such as this, were often given away by the Chinese emperors as gifts. Like most other foreign dignitaries who visited the imperial court, the Tibetan monks would receive luxuriously woven brocades, sometimes with special Buddhist symbols, in return for the ritual services they performed for members of the imperial family. Although the textiles on this tangka can be dated to the Wanli period, the iconography suggests that the tangka was made only after the second half of the 17th century.A tangka is an image or icon to aid concentration during meditation. This includes paintings, in various sizes of deities or spiritual guiding figures in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition.
