This artist’s manual consists of 24 pages of hand-made paper folded accordion-style (Nepali: thyasaphu). Annotated diagrams indicating the standard proportions for reliquary stupas and for Buddha images are drawn in ink. Buddhist and Hindu craftsmen use this system, called iconometry, to invest sacred images with divine power.Artists in the Kathmandu Valley are usually of the Newari ethnic group. The skill of Newari craftsmen in the metallurgical arts was recorded by pilgrims from China as early as the seventh century Newari craftsmen passed down their skills down generations of apprentices through manuals such as this one, supplemented by oral teachings.
