Himalayan Buddhist Statues

The artist community of the Kathmandu Valley is justifiably famous for the metal-working skill and artistry. The level of mastery still distinguishes the finest metal-smiths of the Valley today. The art of making traditional Himalayan Buddhist statues is painstaking, time-consuming, and requires consummate skill from all who contribute. First produced by lost-wax casting, the raw casting is refined and detailed by chasing (hammering a sharp tool into the surface of the statue) to create the details of the crown, hair, fabric designs, jewelry, and all-important facial features of the divine visage.

Even the smooth areas are given a final polish by gently hammering the surface. After the copper body is finished in great detail, the gilders take over and fire-gild the entire surface with an amalgam of mercury and gold. It is then heated to vaporize the mercury, so that the gold permanently stays on the body. Next a burnisher takes over, rubbing the entire piece with an agate tool affixed to the end of a stick. The statue is then ready for the artist, who will complete and embellish it in various colors — in some cases, costly pigments of ground lapis lazuli and gold as needed in the iconography.