The Opening of Consecrated Tibetan Bronzes with Interior Contents: Scholarly, Conservation,

and Ethical Considerations

Author(s): Chandra L. Reedy
Source: Journal of the American Institute for Conservation, Vol. 30, No. 1 (Spring, 1991), pp.
13-34
Published by: The American Institute for Conservation of Historic & Artistic Works
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3179515
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 THE OPENING OF CONSECRATED TIBETAN BRONZES WITH
INTERIOR CONTENTS: SCHOLARLY, CONSERVATION, AND
ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS

CHANDRAL. REEDY

ABSTRACT-Tibetan Buddhist and Bon-po statues are consecrated before being

used for worship. During the ceremony, objects are often sealed inside hollow-cast
pieces. Many types of objects have been found when statues were opened for
museum study. Although statue contents comprise an interesting range of items,
they were only rarely found to contain information relevant to the date or place of
manufacture of a piece. Much time and expense are generally required to fully
analyze and conserve the removed contents. A survey of Tibetan religious teachers
revealed strong opinions that opening a statue is a desecration that cannot really
be rectified. The conclusion of this research is that the data obtained from remov-
ing and studying statue contents are not useful enough to justify further statue
openings.

1. INTRODUCTION
ALMOST ALL copper-based statues produced in the Himalayan regions of northwest
India, Tibet, and Nepal over the past 1,500 years or more were made for religious
purposes. The majority of the surviving metal statues from Tibet are Buddhist; a few
statues have also survived from the Bon-p6 traditions, the shamanistic indigenous
religious practices of Tibet. Consecration ceremonies were and still are performed on all
statues from these traditions prior to their use.
About half of the extant Tibetan bronzes are solid metal, and half are a relatively thin
layer of metal cast around a clay core. Frequently, some of the clay core, especially from
the area in the center of the torso, is removed after casting to leave a hollow area into
which sacred objects are inserted during the consecration ceremony.
After a background discussion concerning the purposes and components of a consecra-
tion ceremony, this article reports the results of research regarding the opening of con-
secrated statues for study of their interior contents. It discusses which statues have been
opened, what items have been found as interior contents, what knowledge has been
obtained through studies of the contents, what effects opening the statues might have on
the state of preservation of the contents, what Tibetan Buddhist practitioners think about
the opening of consecrated statues in a museum context, and whether or not museum
staff should continue to open Tibetan statues for interior content studies.

2. CONSECRATION
THIS INQUIRYinto the content of consecration ceremonies began with a survey of the
literature, including both summaries of various older Tibetan texts and writings of
modern Tibetan practitioners. A questionnaire on the viewpoints of living practitioners

JAIC 30 (1991):13-34
14 Chandra L. Reedy

toward the opening of consecrated statues, discussed more fully in section 4, also elicited
some descriptions of the consecration ceremony from current practitioners.
The consecration ceremony first purifies an image in order to make it suitable for
habitation by the Buddha or other deity involved. Then it invests the statue with the
power and presence of that deity. Unless it has been consecrated, a statue is not
considered suitable for use in religious practices.
The consecration ceremony can only be performed by a fully qualified person con-
sidered knowledgeable and proficient in all the ritual activities that need to be done; he
must be stable, calm, wise, patient, honest, and without pretensions and must have
received the required initiations and teachings. The deity is invited to the statue through
the power of meditation, the potency of the ritual, and the devotion of the ceremony's
hosts. After being invited, a deity is drawn into the statue to be consecrated, and its
presence is sealed by the procedures of the ritual. The ceremony can be performed either
in a monastery or in a layperson's home. It is repeated, when circumstances allow, once
a year. After consecration the image must be kept clean and the spirit of consecration
kept alive through the religious study and practice of those around it (Sharpa Tulku and
Perrott 1985).
The ritual can be used to consecrate any representation of the Buddha's body, speech,
and mind. The Buddha's body is most often represented by statues or paintings, speech
by scriptures, and enlightened mind by a stupa (chbten). Other more ordinary objects can
also be consecrated, such as ornaments, houses, gardens, wells, or mantra beads. (A
mantra is a sequence of syllables whose sounds, when recited in tantric meditations, are
intended to promote a state of identification with the deity being invoked; the exact
number of recitations to be performed is usually specified in the meditation text, and a
string of beads is the usual device for keeping count.)
There are many reasons for consecrating an object. For example, greater faith and
respect for the object is generated when great lamas have performed consecration rituals
for it. The ritual is also used to clear an area of obstacles and make it more peaceful and
free from disease, to create conducive conditions for meditation, and to increase the
lifespan, happiness, and wealth of the inhabitants of an area (Panchen Otrul Rinpoche
1987).
During the consecration ceremony, holy articles are sometimes sealed inside the
statue. While the objects are being placed inside the piece, the deity is invoked and
infused into the work of art through the use of appropriate hand gestures, mantras, and
visualizations.
According to Giuseppe Tucci's summary of Tibetan Buddhist texts concerning con-
secration (Tucci 1949, 1:309-310) and modern Tibetan scholars on the subject (Kazi
1966, 8-10; Dagyab 1977, 1:32-33), a wide variety of holy articles can be selected for
insertion. These objects usually include sacred writings (mantras or excerpts from scrip-
tures), with specific ones being considered most appropriate for placing in particular
parts of the statue. The physical relics of holy persons can also be inserted. These relics
may be actual parts of the body (hair, teeth, pieces of skull or bone, and ashes) or objects
that came in close contact with the holy person during his or her lifetime. Other items
frequently inserted are sacred images (made of metal, wood, or clay) and medicinal or
purifying plants such as powdered saffron flowers or pieces of juniper tree incense.
Whatever is most available and appropriate to the specific situation can be included.
Tarthang Tulku, Head Lama of the Tibetan Nyingma Center in Berkeley, California,
described the preparation and insertion of objects into a statue during a typical modern
consecration ceremony (Tarthang Tulku 1989). In the center of the statue one might

JAIC 30 (1991):13-34
 The Opening of Consecrated Tibetan Bronzes 15

insert an obelisk cut from the east side of a cedar tree at the proper time (determined by
astrological charts). The top of the obelisk would be carved into a pyramid shape, with
Sanskrit or Tibetan letters placed at each face and at the apex (the seed syllables of the
five Buddhas: Vairocana, Akshobhya, Ratnasambhava, Amitabha, and Amoghasiddhi).
Letters symbolizing Buddha qualities would be placed down the sides of the obelisk.
Relics and powders made from precious substances (in barely visible amounts) might be
inserted with the obelisk-gems, pearls, gold, silver, turquoise, coral, and stones or sand
from holy places. Copies of tantric texts of different types would be placed in certain
locations within the statue. Lineage prayers from the meditation connected with the
statue would be included.
For each statue, special writings would be inserted. The selection of writings to include
depends upon the meditation practices and the purposes of the statue. On an auspicious
day, a teacher or monk who has performed the proper fasts, ceremonies, visualizations,
and prayers writes them out. The words must flow along a single line for as long as
necessary, following special grammatical rules. Other lines may be added, with the order
following specific principleS. These long strips of writing are done very meticulously and
are then carefully checked for accuracy. In addition, a "correction"mantra is added to
counteract any mistakes that might have occurred. At the end of each writing is a
mantra that seals it with the power of truth, and special wishes are added to conduct the
flow of energy in a certain way. The writings are carefully placed in the proper parts of
the statue. A closing rite then fully activates the energy of the mantras and precious
objects.
Tarthang Tulku also mentioned that it is considered especially important that large
statues receive this empowerment once a year to renew the. blessings and purify the
consciousness of its worshipers. In Tibet, large groups would at times gather together to
perform this ceremony for many statues at once. Sometimes great masters would travel
hundreds of miles to attend such ceremonies, which were often dedicated to special
purposes such as world peace or removing all suffering in the world.
The main purpose of repeating the consecration ceremony on occasions other than the
original completion of the work is to increase the holiness of the image and renew
observances of respect toward it. The reconsecration would most likely take place for a
special event, such as the inauguration of a temple or to celebrate a particularly holy day.
For reconsecration the face might be repainted, and the pigment in the eyes, lips, and
hair redelineated, especially if they have become worn or damaged with use. If the
mantras are to be renewed or if the image is to be regilded, the objects previously installed
may be temporarily removed (Kazi 1966, 10).
A statue would also be reconsecrated after being desecrated by flood, fire, violence and
war, or other calamities. If possible the original contents would be reinserted, but if some
or all were found to be damaged they would be augmented or replaced with new objects
(Aye Tulku, Lobsang Nyima 1989).

3. OPENING OF STATUES AT THE

LOS ANGr.r--S COUNTY MUSEUM OF ART

3.1 BACKGROUND
TIBETAN STATUES have at times been opened in museum conservation laboratories or
by private collectors, and the consecrated objects have been removed for scientific or art
historical study or simply to see what is there. The goal has sometimes been to help

JAIC 30 (1991):13-34
16 Chandra L. Reedy

determine the date and place of manufacture of the piece or to increase understanding of
its cultural and religious context. A number of scholarly, conservation, and ethical issues
have arisen as a result of statue openings.
Scholarly considerations begin with the identification of the wide range of objects that
have been found inside statues. Beyond identification may be more in-depth art histori-
cal or technical studies of the objects. The major conservation issues are to determine
how much damage opening a piece will entail and whether the results will be worth the
permanent change. Another problem to be considered is how fragile objects removed
from the piece, such as disintegrating paper scrolls, will be handled and stored. Equally
important to the conservator are the ethical issues, since in a museum the conservator
generally makes important contributions to the final decision about whether a con-
secrated statue should be tampered with and usually opens the piece. The primary
ethical questions involved are whether opening a statue will desecrate it in the eyes of the
practitioners who made and used it and in the eyes of their descendants, whether we
should care if they consider the opening a desecration, and whether the information to be
gained justifies any desecration. These ethical issues are discussed in section 4, which
reports on the viewpoints of living practitioners.
The types of objects encountered when studying consecrated statues are illustrated in
this section, with a discussion of pieces that have been opened at the Los Angeles County
Museum of Art.

3.2 MATERIALSAND METHODS

During a six-year regional provenance study of 340 Himalayan statues from several
museums and private collections (Reedy n.d.), all pieces were examined for physical
evidence relating to a consecration ceremony. One hundred sixty-nine of the 340 statues
are solid, so they could never have had interior contents. The 171 hollow-cast pieces
were studied through surface examination and x-ray radiography to identify the presence
of any remaining interior contents.
Many hollow statues with no contents also have no bottom baseplate. All most likely
once contained objects that were removed along with the baseplate. Some statues that
are missing a baseplate still have bits and pieces of their former contents adhering to the
interior walls of the piece or lodged in the top of the head. For those statues it is thus
possible to identify and list at least some of the types of objects they once held.
As part of the provenance study, two statues, one belonging to the Los Angeles County
Museum of Art and one from a private collection, were opened for a thorough study of the
contents. Subsequently, six more statues from the museum's collection were opened at
curatorial request, some of which were part of the provenance study and some of which
were not. Prior to the provenance study, two other museum objects had been opened;
one other object had arrived at the museum already opened, and although the accom-
panying contents were said to have been removed from that piece, there was no documen-
tation to prove it.
The contents from the 10 documented openings will be discussed in detail here and
compared with the contents from several pieces that were opened elsewhere and docu-
mented.

3.3 MODE OF INSERTION

Contents were almost always inserted from the underside of the piece, and the statues
were then sealed by an unalloyed copper plate set into the bottom rim of the base (fig. 1).

JAIC 30 (1991):13-34
 The Opening of Consecrated Tibetan Bronzes 17

Fig. 1. An
unalloyed copper
plate set into the
bottom rim of the
base of a statue,
the typical method
for sealing a piece
after the insertion
of sacred objects
during a
consecration
ceremony. W. 14
cm. Nairatmy,.
brass, 16th-century
central Tibet, Los
Angeles County
Museum of Art,
from the Nasli and
Alice Heeramaneck
Collection, Museum
Associates
Purchase, M.70.1.4. I I ;:;

The plate was commonly made of thin, hammered copper, intended to fit just under the
outer edge of the base and held in place by being loosely tucked under the edge.
Deformations of the edges of the plate caused by chisel or hammer blows prevent it from
loosening or sliding out. The need to work the plate in this way is the reason for using
the softer unalloyed copper. In a few cases a more elaborate method of attachment with
rivets was used to seal the baseplate to the statue.
Twenty-nine statues in the provenance study have a hole or plugged-up hole on the
back, which sometimes might have been used to place contents inside (fig. 2). Dagyab
(1977, 1:33) reported that although sacred objects are usually placed inside a piece
through a lotus base, statues without a lotus seat have openings on the back through
which objects are inserted. In the provenance study we found that not all statues with
back holes have interior contents or evidence that contents were once present; other
statues have both a back hole and a lotus base.
However, in some cases objects could only have been placed inside a piece though the
back hole. For example, a Tibetan image of the great female teacher Ma-chik Lab-kyi
Dron-ma was found to be filled with organic material in the upper portion of the figure.
Although the base is hollow, the legs are solid. Since there are no other holes in the
object, and the organic material is not part of the remains of a clay core, it must have
been placed inside the piece through the hole at the center of the back.
In other statues, some but not all of the objects may have been placed inside through
the back hole, with the remainder of the objects being inserted through the underside of
the base, which was then sealed by a copper plate. One west Tibetan seated Buddha
image has both a back hole and a hollow base, with many objects placed inside the piece.
A small metal statue found inside is too large to fit through the back hole and must have
been inserted through the base. However, many other smaller objects found inside could
have been inserted from the back.

JAIC 30 (1991):13-34
18 Chandra L. Reedy

Fig. 2. A patched back hole

that was probably used to
place sacred objects into the
statue. H. 16.5 cm, W. 11.7
cm. VajmavS-rhT,leaded
copper-zinc-tin alloy,
17th-century central Tibet,
Los Angeles County Museum
of Art, Gift of Paul F. Walter,
M.74.106.1.

In some cases an outline of a hole is chiseled onto the back, but the marks do not
completely penetrate the metal. A few solid-cast pieces had a large back patch that has
now fallen off, but obviously no contents were actually inserted into a solid statue. For
these cases, the purpose of the back hole is unclear. It is possible that this feature was
meant to provide the appearance of a statue containing consecrated objects when in fact
none were placed inside; or perhaps objects were inserted through the base but for some
reason the participants in the ceremony wished to have it appear that they were placed
into the back; or the outline may just be a stylized rendering of a ceremonial practice.

3.4 RESULTS
The interior contents of the 10 objects opened at the Los Angeles County Museum of
Art are summarized in table 1. The contents of the two opened as part of the provenance
study are described in detail, and highlights of the remaining ones are elaborated on.
Information obtained through surface examination and x-ray radiography of additional
objects is also discussed.

JAIC 30 (1991):13-34
 The Opening of Consecrated Tibetan Bronzes 19

TART. 1

Interior Contents of Objects Opened at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art

Statue Title Contents

Private collection Buddha Shakyamuni Metal statue, textiles, ts'a ts'a*, sawdust
M.70.1.4 Nairatmya Textiles, coral, turquoise, bark, wood, bone, seed
pods, ts'a ts'a, clay stupas, paper scrolls, charcoal
M.74.5.2 Avalokiteshvara Paper with miscellaneous writings, painted wood and
bone wrapped in string
M.76.70 Sadakshari Lokeshvara Charcoal, ordinary stones, Juniper wood, twigs, and
leaves
M.76.130 Choten Textiles, bones, a twig, seeds, paper with drawings
and writing.
M.81.183.1 Padmasambhava Paper scrolls, seeds
M.82.165.3 Buddha Shakyamuni Paper scrolls tied with string, colored textiles, hair,
bone powder, hard balls of white clay, string bundles,
ivory carving, metal stupa
M.83.191 Bonp6 Deity Black human hair, pieces of human skull, tooth, bone,
seeds, paper scrolls, conifer twigs, colored textiles,
small tightly rolled paintings
M.85.296 Karma Pakshi Textiles, paper, carved bone, ordinary stones, coral
bead, pearl, peach pit, bundles of seeds and grain, a
clove, paper scrolls, ashes, wood, seed pods, shell
M.86.344.1 Portrait of a Monk Textiles, seeds, a lapis lazuli bead, small pearl,
broken clay pieces, wood, bark, paper scrolls, bone,
ceramic cylinder, ts'a ts'a, walnuts, string, shell,
clay stupas, turquoise, small piece of metal, bone,
large stick in center of body

*Ts'a ts'a are terracotta Images of various deities, used in a consecration ceremony to represent the
body of the Buddha.

Contents of a West Tibetan Buddha Shikyamuni

During examination of a seated Buddha Shakyamuni image in the style of 12th- to

13th-century west Tibet, x-ray radiography revealed that the piece contained a small
metal object that appeared to be a four-faced seated Buddha statue. In light of the
possible importance of the small statue, we chose to open the piece for further study of
the contents. The statue had been sealed at the base in an unusual manner, with five
separate copper plates riveted together rather than the usual single copper plate. The
objects conservator could therefore open it with minimal damage, as the removal of only
one copper plate by grinding down four rivets was all that was necessary to remove the
contents.

JAIC 30 (1991):13-34
20 Chandra L. Reedy

After removal of that plate, the first layer encountered was a deteriorated silk textile
tucked over the bottom of the statue's contents. Behind the silk piece, a four-faced metal
Buddha image was found lying upside down, wrapped in silk cloth, and placed within a
large amount of sawdust mixed with twigs from a coniferous wood. A 10-gram sample of
sawdust was used for carbon-14 dating at the UCLA Radiocarbon Laboratory (UCLA-
2533), which provided a date of 1420 A.D. ? 45 years. This date may represent the final
sealing of the piece, assuming that the sawdust was not from very old wood and that it all
originated from wood of one age.
The small copper-based image represents the deity Sarvavid Vairocana, for which metal
images are extremely rare. The meditation of Sarvavid Vairocana was especially popular
in the west Tibet region during the medieval period, and it is practiced even today in the
Tibetan refugee communities. The purpose is to help one attain rebirth in fortunate
circumstances, and it can be done either to benefit oneself or others (Getty 1962, 34;
Clark 1:1937, 125; Tucci 1935, 30-42).
X-ray radiography of this small statue showed that it too was hollow cast and probably
has sacred objects sealed within it. The surface of the piece is very worn, indicating that
when the outer piece was sealed in the 14th or 15th century, the Sarvavid Vairocana
image had already been in use for some time. Due to its stylistic similarity to images
found in 1 lth- to 12th-century west Tibetan monasteries such as Alchi and Ta pho, it is
possible the piece might date to that period.
Because the carbon-14 date indicates the piece might have been last sealed in the 14th
or 15th century, and stylistically the outer image is 12th to 13th century while the inner
piece is of that age or older, it is possible that the current contents are in part the result
of a reconsecration. Additional support for the idea of a consecration performed after the
original casting comes from the surface examination of the statue. The outer Buddha
image is technically a sophisticated work of casting, but the five-piece baseplate and its
many rivets is of much lesser craftsmanship. It seems most likely to be the work of
people who were not located in a major casting center and who were using any small
pieces of copper they had on hand. It is highly unlikely that the image was put into use
after manufacture without being consecrated and filled with objects at that time. The
original contents may have been a mixture of the current ones, or the piece may have
contained an entirely different set of objects that were for some reason removed at the
time it was reconsecrated in the 14th or 15th century.
Included with the Sarvavid Vairocana were 11 terracotta images of deities (called ts'a
ts'a, representing the body of the Buddha), all consistent with a west Tibet provenance of
indeterminate date. They range from 3.8 to 4.1 cm in height, and four are covered with a
fine powdered whitewash. Nine have features that survived well enough to permit iden-
tification of the deities depicted. Two ts'a ts'a represent Padmasambhava, the legendary
Indian tantric Buddhist teacher who traveled to Tibet in the eighth century and is
considered a major force behind the establishment of Buddhism there. Another two are
images of Shantarakshita, the orthodox Indian pandit often associated with Pad-
masambhava and who was renowned for his monastic discipline and scholarship. The
other ts'a ts'a represent several tantric Buddhist deities including UshnTshavijaya (the
goddess of long life), White Tara, and Vajradhara. The process of opening the statue and a
full illustration and description of the contents were reported elsewhere (Reedy 1986).
We chose to reconsecrate the statue in a traditional Tibetan ceremony performed by a
Tibetan Buddhist teacher living in Los Angeles. He placed new objects inside the image,
and the reconsecration ceremony was intended to once again invest the statue with the
power of the Buddha.

JAIC 30 (1991):13-34
 The Opening of Consecrated Tibetan Bronzes 21

Contents of a Kashmiri-Style Avalokiteshvara Image

The second statue opened as part of the technical study was a seated Avalokiteshvara
in the style of 8th- to 9th-century Kashmir that was produced in either north Pakistan or
Kashmir (fig. 3). It has a large hole on the back at the upper center of the lotus seat (fig.
4). Objects were visible through the hole, and these were removed for study. Some are
wads of paper, and others are painted wood and bone pieces with string tied around them
(fig. 5).
A paper conservator unrolled the wads of paper, revealing seven scraps with Tibetan
handwriting in black ink, abbreviated and difficult to read (fig. 6). These scraps were
encased in Mylar before study and translation.
The contents turned out not to be connected to the bodhisattva depicted and do not
seem to be connected with a consecration ceremony at all. The largest fragment has
references to the rules of spelling laid out by Ral pa can and a passage in which the writer
asks someone to accept a turquoise that is all that was left by a destitute deceased
person. Another fragment refers to an official with a Ladakhi title. A third has another
reference to a deceased person or a corpse. One of the smaller fragments gives the name
of a practitioner, dPal chen gLing p'i so cha 'dzin p'i srong Khol, or the life servant of the
holder of the place of dPal chen gLing pa (Palchen Lingpa). Lingpa may be the great
tantric teacher of U province in south central Tibet, who lived from 1128 to 1188 A.D. He
was in charge of the monastery of sNa phur dgon and was the author of many tantric
commentaries. In the 12th century his successor sent many disciples to north Pakistan,
Kashmir, the Kangra Valley of north India, and elsewhere to live and teach (Roerich 1979,
659-69). Thus it would not be surprising to find a statue from Kashmir or north Pakistan
containing writings by a monk from Lingpa's monastery.
The Tibetan scholar Hugh Richardson has suggested that because all writing was
considered sacred by Tibetan Buddhists and should not be destroyed, these scraps could
simply be waste paper from monastery correspondence. The scraps could have been
inserted at any time, and they are probably not connected with the original consecration
of the statue. However, the pieces of wood and string probably were inserted during a
consecration or reconsecration ceremony.

Pieces Opened Outside of the Provenance Study

Seven statues and one ch6ten have been opened in the conservation laboratory at
various times at curatorial request. Another chbten arrived at the museum already
opened, accompanied by what were said to be its contents in a separate box.
An image of the goddess Nairatmya, opened in the most usual way by removing the one
copper plate sealing the piece at the bottom, yielded a variety of objects such as bark,
wood, bone, seed pods, many small tightly rolled paper mantra scrolls, and small bits of
charcoal. There were also four small ts'a ts'a and two small clay stupas wrapped in
textiles (fig. 7). The ts'a ts'a were red with a deity image in a contrasting tan color, two
with the deity of wisdom, Mafijushrf, and two with an as-yet-unidentified mahisiddha
(fig. 8). The two stupas, each with a carved design on the bottom (fig. 9), are intended to
represent the mind of the Buddha. Also found was a larger terracotta ts'a ts'a originally
wrapped in a textile and illustrating six deity images.

JAIC 30 (1991):13-34
22 Chandra L. Reedy

3 4

Fig. 3. Avalokiteshvara,
copper-tin-zinc alloy,
Kashmir or north Pakis-
tan, 8th-9th century, Los
Angeles County Museum
of Art, from the Nasll and
Alice Heeramaneck Collec-
tion, Museum Associates
Purchase, M.74.5.2. H.
15.2 cm, W. 9.2 cm.

Fig. 4. Back view of the

Avalokiteshvara image in
figure 3, with objects
visible through the hole at
the top of the lotus base.
Dimensions of the hole are
1.0 x 1.5 cm.

Fig. 5. Objects removed

from the Avaloklteshvara
piece. On the top two
rows are paper scrolls, on
the bottom row are pieces
of bone with string tied
around them.

JAIC 30 (1991):13-34
 The Opening of Consecrated Tibetan Bronzes 23

Fig. 6. An example of one of

the pieces of paper recovered
from the Avaloklteshvara
image, unrolled and encased
in Mylar for translation.

Fig. 7. Small ts'a ts'a and

stupas wrapped in textiles,
recovered from the -?.
'
. .
4. .
16th-century central
Tibetan image of Nairatmya. _. .._ _ _ _ _-
7

Fig. 8. A ts'a ts'a from figure 7

after removal of its textile
wrapping, representing a
seated maIasiddha.
D. 2.3 cm

JAIC 30 (1991):13-34
24 Chandra L. Reedy

Fig. 9. Design
carvedonto the
undersideof the
two clay stupas
removedfromthe
Nairiitmyaimage.

A statue of Padmasambhava was filled with many small paper scrolls tightly packed
together. These scrolls remain in the paper conservation laboratory to be unrolled, but
they appear to contain various mantras. A few small seeds were scattered among the
scrolls.
When an image of the teacher Karma Pakshi was opened, the first layer encountered
was a textile with a rectangular piece of paper glued onto the center and covered with very
faded Tibetan letters (fig. 10). Infrared photography was used to bring out the letters as
much as possible (fig. 11), but they have not yet been fully identified and translated.
Wrapped within the textile were: a round piece of carved bone with a geometric pattern
and a hole on each side, a peach pit, a clove, a coral bead, a pearl, many small scrolls, a
piece of blue silk, several pieces of wood, several large seed pods, a piece of shell, 13
bundles of scrolls, and a bundle filled with what appear to be cremation ashes.
For a statue of Sadakshari Lokeshvara, the contents consisted of chunks of wood with
many twigs and leaves scattered throughout (all from a juniper tree). There were also a
few bits of charcoal and 10 small stones (not precious or semiprecious, but ordinary
stones such as schist, quartz, and sandstone), which were probably included because
they were collected at a holy site.
A portrait of a monk was filled with many carefully wrapped walnuts (fig. 12) in
addition to the more usual textiles, seeds, wood, bark, scrolls, bone, ts'a ts'a, and stones.
These walnuts might be objects particularly associated with that monk or with the
primary location where he taught, or they might simply be objects that were in abun-
dance at the site where the consecration was performed and were thus selected to finish
filling the statue. Venerable Karma Gelek Yuthok suggested that walnuts wrapped in
textiles could mean at least three things: the walnuts could have been blessed secret
elements used and treasured by the deceased
reteacher; they might have been chosen as
naturally pure and symbolic elements to fill the empty spaces in the statue; or the textiles
they were wrapped in could have been pieces of the late teacher's or other high teacher's
clothing (Yuthok 1989). Walnuts could also represent the head and brain and thus might
have been appropriate symbols for a renowned scholar. Also found were a small lapis
lazuli bead, a very small pearl, a piece of shell, three clay stupas, a small turquoise, a

JAIC 30 (1991):13-34
 The Opening of Consecrated Tibetan Bronzes 25

Fig. 10. Textile layer that was

set underneath the copper
baseplate (W. 14.3 cm) of an
image of Karma Pakshi. At the
center is a rectangular piece of
paper with very faded Tibetan
letters. Brass, 17th-century
east Tibet, Los Angeles County
Museum of Art, Gift of Anna C.
Walter, M.85.296.

Fig. 11. Infrared photograph of

the piece of paper shown in fig-
ure 10, with many more
details of the Tibetan writing
now visible.

JAIC 30 (1991):13-34
26 Chandra L. Reedy

Fig. 12. Some ofthe

walnuts, many still
in their originaltex-
tile wrappings,found
inside an imageof a
Tibetanmonk.
Brass, east Tibet,
15th-16th century,

M.86 344..
2.

small piece of metal, several string-wrapped bundles of wood, and one large stick in the
center of the body. This large stick is a srog shin (life-stick, or soul-pole) (Gyatso 1986).
One Bon-p6 statue was opened, and inside were funerary items such as a bundle of
black human hair, pieces of human skull, a human tooth, and packets of human bone.
There were also fve tightly rolled packets of small paintings, which are currenty in the
paper conservation laboratory waiting to be safely unrolled. In addition, we found pack-
ets of conifer twigs and many other tiny packets carefully wrapped in red and tan textiles.
A west Tibetan of the seated Buddha Shkyamuni, of a 14th-century style,
yielded 11 tightly rolled paper scrolls with string tied around the bundles; Tibetan hand-
writing in black ink is visible. There are also small pieces of textiles, one red, one blue,
one yellow, and one tan; three thicker textile pieces, one yellow, one gray, and one
wrapped around what appears to be bone powder; two bundles of hair, one golden which
may be animal hair and one brown which may be human hair; four small hard balls of
white clay; two bundles of string; a small ivory piece (1.3 x 1.0 cm) with a design carved
1;is s a
intoerthe top in the shape of the numeral small metal stupa (2.3 x 2.3 cm), hollow
and tself filled with objects (disopened,and
ing textile or paper).
A cheten attributed to central Tibet of the 12th century was found to contain rolls of
cotton, bones, a small twig, grain, sand, and paper with a faded design of figures. A
10-gram sample of grain was dated at the UCIA Radiocarbon Laboratory (UCLA-2535)
wanpdfound to be less than 300 years old. Although t possiblethe contents are newer
than the chten and are thone result of a reconsecration during which objects were replaced,
there was no evidence that the baseplate had been tampered with when the chiten was
opened in the Conshap of thee numeral. Thus t s possible that the chten may date to the
17anditselfo
20th century, although it may be modeled after an earlier style.
Another chbten attributed to central Tibet be12th
had centuryed before the museum ac-
quired it. The contents said to have been inside include 16 small clay stupas, two ts'a
tston, bones, a and UshmTshavijayi, two pieces of bone, cotton cloth, and barley seeds.
A 10-gram sample of these seeds was dated at the UCLARadiocarbon Laboratory (UCLA-
2534) and found to be less than 300 years old, indicating that the chontendates to the

JAIC 30 (1991):13-34
 The Opening of Consecrated Tibetan Bronzes 27

17th to 20th century. However, since the piece arrived at the museum already opened,
with the contents said to have once been inside but with the removal undocumented, we
cannot be certain that the carbon-14 date reflects the actual date of manufacture or final
sealing of the chitern

Study by X-ray Radiography and Surface Examination

Objects inside other statues in the Himalayan provenance study were examined as well
as possible without opening the pieces. However, this examination provided very limited
results. Only one statue besides the west Tibetan Shakyamuni image that was opened
showed a metal object visible through x-ray radiography. An 1 lth- to 12th-century west
Tibetan seated male figure, possibly a yogi, shows what appears to be a metal phallus
loosely attached and now slightly off center inside the body (Reedy 1987, figs. 4-5). Its
presence is probably related to tantric practices that may have been associated with this
yogi.
Since only interior metal objects are visible in radiographs, while the majority of
consecrated objects are ceramic or organic materials, x-ray radiography is not a very
useful technique by itself for studying the contents of sealed statues. However, it is
possible that experimentation with other similar nondestructive techniques such as
neutron radiography and industrial x-ray tomography might show them to be valuable for
obtaining useful information without opening statues.
Two of the statues in the study have the Tibetan syllables om ah hum chiseled into the
metal on the back of the piece (fig. 13). Although the consecration of paintings usually
involves inscribing the back side with these sacred syllables, it is rare to find medieval
period statues consecrated by this method. These syllables represent the three seed
syllables respectively for the body, speech, and mind of the deities. They would most
likely have been inscribed prior to the consecration ceremony, and their presence alone
would not have made the image any holier. However, with consecration, these seeds are
blessed and developed into the enlightened body, speech, and mind of the Buddha or
deity depicted by the statue.
Surface examinations of the remainder of the 66 statues with consecration evidence
permitted only a brief listing of the types of objects that appeared to be present. These
objects included primarily textiles, plant remains, ceramic materials, and paper scrolls.

3.5 DISCUSSION
Several other museums and private collectors have documented the interior contents of
Tibetan objects and reported finding similar types of items (Reynolds et al. 1986, 87-88;
Preston 1983; Hatt 1980). This information accords well with what consecration texts say
may be inserted. Many other pieces have been opened by curious collectors but the
contents not properly documented. These sacred contents have provided only a limited
amount of information about the works of art.
The style of the objects inserted is sometimes, but only rarely, chronologically specific.
Therefore, if the curator does not set aside funds for carbon-14 dating, the contents
cannot provide a date of manufacture or sealing of the piece. An additional factor to
consider regarding carbon-14 dating efforts is that casting core material almost
always
remains in the upper arms of consecrated statues and is usually carbon-rich from added
organic temper. The new technology of accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) carbon-14
dating means that only a few milligrams of this material is enough to provide a date, and

JAIC 30 (1991):13-34
28 Chandra L. Reedy

Fig. 13. Back of an image of the

Buddha Akshobhya with the
sacred syllables om ah hfim
inscribed at the neck, upper
back, and center back respec-
tively. H. 25.5 cm, W. 20.0 cm.
Brass, west Tibet, 12th- 3th
century, Collection of Catherine
and Ralph Benkalm.

the result will be chronological information directly related to the date of manufacture of
the piece. Consecrated objects, on the other hand, may be considerably older than the
statue they are placed inside, or they may be much newer if they result from a recon-
secration. Thus if a carbon-14 date of the contents does not accord with the stylistic
attribution of a piece, it is impossible to determine if the stylistic analysis is inaccurate or
if the contents are simply unrelated to the date of manufacture.
The west Tibetan seated Shakyamuni Buddha image, with some contents obviously
worn and stylistically older than the outer Buddha image, but with carbon-14 dating of
sawdust providing a later date than that to which the outer statue is stylistically at-
tributed, is one example of the difficulties involved in dating a statue using interior
contents. The two chitens with carbon-14 dates much different from their stylistic
attributions are two more such examples. Similar problems are illustrated by a choten
opened elsewhere, whose contents were published in detail (Hatt 1980). That chiten from
the Newark Museum collection, opened prior to its donation, was found to contain a
variety of objects including textiles, seeds, manuscripts, drawings, animal hide, and small
pieces of minerals and gems. The final sealing of the ch6ten could be dated to 1230 A.D. ?
65 years by carbon-14 dating of barley seeds. However, some of the birchbark
manuscripts were already quite old at the time of the 13th-century consecration, as they
could be dated by orthographic peculiarities of the Tibetan script to the eighth or ninth
century.

JAIC 30 (1991):13-34
 The Opening of Consecrated Tibetan Bronzes 29

Consecrated objects are also only rarely regionally specific. Technical studies of
manufacturing methods, metal composition, and clay core composition of a Tibetan
statue can usually provide better information about its place of origin than can con-
secrated objects (Reedy and Meyers 1987).
Although the list of items found is indeed interesting, I would argue that we can
usually derive as much useful information about the cultural and religious context of a
piece through rigorous iconographic and stylistic studies. In addition, ethnographic and
textual studies of Tibetan philosophies and practices have thus far only scratched the
surface of the knowledge we can potentially gain about Tibetan works of art.
Finally, a sufficient amount of money or time must be designated at the time of opening
a statue for proper documentation of the objects recovered and their location within the
statue, for translation of scrolls, and for an in-depth study of other objects recovered, or
they will have been removed in vain. If adequate conservation resources (including large
blocks of time) cannot be devoted to the proper treatment and storage of all of the fragile
objects recovered, especially brittle, disintegrating paper, they are unlikely to be available
to future scholars.

4. SUKVrY OF TIBETAN PRACeITIONERS

4.1 MATERIALSAND METHODS
AFTER HAVINGobserved the opening of a number of consecrated statues and recording
their interior contents, I decided to research the question of how Tibetan Buddhist
practitioners really feel about the opening of these statues, to assess more accurately the
ethical issues involved. I prepared a survey and sent it to 18 prominent Tibetan religious
teachers in India, Nepal, Canada, and the United States. Many of the 10 answers I
received were quite elaborate, and the Tibetans obviously were concerned about this
issue. Some had already thought about the problem at length on their own and were
happy to share their viewpoints with the museum.
The primary questions concerning consecration included in the survey were:
* Do you feel that opening of a consecrated statue in a museum laboratory, for the
purpose of study to understand more about the history and context of the statue,
desecrates it?
* If you feel this is a desecration, if the museum were to subsequently have the
statue reconsecrated with new objects by a visiting or local lama, would that study
then be acceptable?
* In your opinion, are the statues already desecrated by being removed from their
monastery context, entering the art market, and being displayed in a museum?
* If a piece is opened for any reason, is there an acceptable opening procedure that
we could follow?
* What is the true purpose of a consecration ceremony?
* Do all statues get consecrated before use?
* What are the most important steps in a consecration ceremony?
* How are the objects to be inserted chosen?
* When would a statue be reconsecrated? Would reconsecration involve
replacing
the contents with new ones or adding new ones to the old?

JAIC 30 (1991):13-34
30 Chandra L. Reedy

4.2 RESULTS
Table 2 lists the respondents and their affiliations. Because many of the answers were
so detailed and because not everyone answered all of the questions and some wrote on
additional topics, the responses cannot easily be converted into table format without
risking some misrepresentation. The responses are therefore discussed below, organized
according to general topic rather than strictly by respondent.
None of the Tibetan leaders were comfortable with the opening of statues in a museum
context. Two felt, however, that it was not a complete desecration. The others held
strong opinions that statues should never be opened for museum study.
Venerable Karma Gelek Yuthok, deputy secretary of the Council for Religious and
Cultural Affairs of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, prepared an extensive paper on the
subject for the council's reply. In it he says:
It is not difficult to understand the good reasons of museums and
curators for opening consecrated statues. But the validity of these
reasons may or may not be sound when judged from the religious point of
view. The very practice of treating consecrated statues or other religious
objects as mere pieces of art amounts to a gross violation of a most basic
Buddhist practice....
A Buddhist ... is bound by a most basic vow to treat and respect every
image of Buddha as a real living Buddha....
Opening of a consecrated statue, under ordinary circumstances,
anywhere, not only desecrates it, but kills its very essence. Consecration
in Buddhism is much more than a ceremony. A capable holy Buddhist
priest invites the real Buddha or Buddhist deity depicted by the statue in
its spirit form to inhabit the statue and then seals it to abide permanent-
ly unto the end of the world.... Reconsecration after a study is of course
possible, but that does not recover the damage already done nor does it
make the past act of desecration reasonable.*
His Holiness Sakya Trizin replied that a Tibetan Buddhist would avoid opening a
consecrated statue unless there was a very important reason, such as the need to
disassemble or move a statue during the renovation or repair of a temple. In such cases
specific rituals are performed before the contents are removed, and the image must be
reconsecrated after they are placed back inside.
Aye Tulku, Lobsang Nyima, began his response by stating that since religious objects
are extremely sacred to the Tibetans, he hoped these objects would always be handled in
the museum with the utmost respect and care. Although it would technically be a
desecration to open a sacred statue, he felt that there would be no harm in opening
non-tantric statues provided that the object of the research is to further knowledge and
ultimately benefit everyone by helping to preserve the sacred teachings. These statues
should only be opened with the pure motivation of preserving and furthering the
knowledge gained from researching the contents. Extreme care and respect should be
used with any opening procedure. Tantric images contain mantras relating to the deities,
and the proper initiations should be undertaken in order to read and understand them.

*Respondents to the consecration survey are listed in table 2. All references in this section are to
letters to the author from the survey respondents, 1989.

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 The Opening of Consecrated Tibetan Bronzes 31

TABLE 2

List of Consecration Survey Respondents

Name
Venerable Karma Gelek Yuthok,
Deputy Secretary
His Holiness Sakya Trizin, Head
Sakya Jetsun Chlmey Luding,
Resident Spiritual Director
Geshe Tashi Namgyal
Thubten Jigme Norbu
Joshua W.C. Cutler, Executive
Director, for Geshe Thupten Gyatso
Lama Karma Rinchen
Tarthang Tulku, Head Lama
Affiliation
Council for Religious and Cultural Affairs of
His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Dharmasala, India
Sakyapa Order of Tibetan Buddhism, RaJpur,India
Sakya Tsechen Thubten Ling, Vajrayana Buddhist
Centre, Richmond, B.C., Canada
Victoria Buddhist Dharma Society, Victoria, B.C., Canada
The Tibet Society, Bloomington, Ind., USA
Labsum Shedrub Ling, Tibetan Buddhist
Learning Center, Washington, New Jersey, USA
Kagyu Thegchen Ling, Tibetan Buddhist
Meditation Center, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA
Tibetan Nyingma Meditation Center, Berkeley, Calif. USA

Jeffrey D. Schoening, Library Sakya Monastery, Seattle, Wash., USA

Director, for His Holiness
Jigdal Dagchen Sakya
Aye Tulku, Lobsang Nyima
Drepung Monastery in Tibet, now Translator and
Teacher of Tibetan Language, Art, and Culture,
New York, N.Y., USA

Geshe Thubten Gyatso felt that since it seems to be the custom in this country, then
opening a statue would not be a desecration. If the piece is opened with good intentions
to investigate the contents then there would be no fault.
According to the Sakya Monastery in Seattle, led by His Holiness Jigdal Dagchen
Sakya, the improper opening of a consecrated statue in any setting is a desecration.
Such an act is nonvirtuous and according to the law of action and result will cause harm
to the instigator (i.e., the curator making the request) as well as to the person who
actually carries out the desecration (i.e., the conservator). Furthermore, the performance
of this nonvirtuous act diminishes the stock of merit of all beings. Opening a statue is
the converse of a consecration ceremony, which is beneficial and creates merit for those
immediately concerned and for society as a whole.
According to Tarthang Tulku, Head Lama of the Tibetan Nyingma Meditation Center in
Berkeley, California, sacred statues have a special meaning and value higher than artistic
beauty because they are bearers of blessings and inspiration. The blessings of the statue
disappear if the inner contents are removed, so from a traditional point of view the deity
has been destroyed. He concludes with, "Ifyou ask my opinion, I find it hard to give you
direction that will accommodate the Western view of these matters, which is very different
from the traditional Buddhist understanding. So the best I can do is inform you of the
traditional perspective and you can judge for yourself how to proceed."

JAIC 30 (1991):13-34
32 Chandra L. Reedy

According to Thubten Jigme Norbu of the Tibet Society, before consecration the statue
is just like dirt. After consecration it is a symbolic representation of Buddha himself. In
his opinion, opening a statue for scientific or art historical study is a terrible thing-"like
tearing out the guts of living beings."
The Venerable Karma Gelek Yuthok described an acceptable opening procedure used
only when a statue is in need of renovation due to damage or when an exclusively
religious reason arises to open it. The Buddha or deity (in subtle spirit form) imbibed by
the statue at consecration is formally requested through the medium of a capable Bud-
dhist priest to leave the statue during a short ritual called gshegs-gsol (pronounced
shey-sol, meaning "request to leave"). When the repair work on the statue is completed
and the contents are reinstalled, care must be taken to place everything correctly, espe-
cially the mantra rolls, which may appear identical on the outside, but contain different
mantras. Different parts of the body receive different mantra rolls. Venerable Yuthok
notes that since different sets of mantra rolls were originally consecrated as different
organs of the deity depicted by the statue, misplacing them would be like a surgeon
misplacing organs during an operation.
One acceptable opening procedure described by the Sakya Monastery of Seattle (called
a chog and pronounced "a choke") is used in Tibet when statues must be repaired. In a
special ritual involving a mirror, the blessing the statue receives when consecrated is
transferred to the image in the mirror. When the work on the statue is completed, the
blessings are transferred back from the mirror image to the statue, which should then be
reconsecrated within a month.
The Sakya monastery also emphasized that it is important that conservators and
scientists who work with Tibetan Buddhist objects show respect for the image as a
religious object so that the practitioners will not be offended or upset by the treatment
accorded the object in the museum. For them, this means that the image should be
treated with care, kept in a clean area, not put on the floor or stepped on, and kept
slightly elevated if possible.

4.3 DISCUSSION
It is clear that for the most part Tibetans see the opening of a statue to be a desecration
of holy objects and an offense to their beliefs. Under normal circumstances a Tibetan
statue would not be opened except for repairs or if a large statue had to be disassembled
and moved. Even then, the consecrated objects would not be disturbed unless necessary,
and the pieces would always be reconsecrated when the work was finished. Only
qualified religious persons opened such statues, and they followed a prescribed ceremony
and procedure.
The Tibetans are not militantly demanding that statues be left sealed; they leave that
decision in the hands of the current owners. Yet most have made it clear that, to them,
the special blessings and religious qualities of a statue are essentially destroyed once a
piece has been opened and the consecrated interior objects removed.

5. CONCLUSIONS
A REVIEW of the results of past statue openings shows that in fact very little useful
information is gained, however interesting the statue contents may be. At the same time,
the Tibetan feelings are strong that the sacred nature of a statue is defaced if the contents
are removed. It is my opinion that these feelings should be taken very seriously, for
several reasons.

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 The Opening of Consecrated Tibetan Bronzes 33

First, Tibetan Buddhism is not a dead religion, and this is not a case where the present
practitioners are far removed in descent from the people who originally made and used
the objects. Therefore, when they talk about museum statues, they are talking about a
group of objects some of them may have actually used in worship in the monasteries of
Tibet.
Second, we know from historical and ethnographic sources that these sacred statues
were never discarded in Tibet in the past but remained forever within the monastery
walls. When they became too worn or damaged for ritual use, they were housed in special
shrines where they continued to be treated with respect (Snellgrove 1978, 351). The
presence today of so many statues in Western museums and private collections is not due
to their being willingly sold or discarded by the previous Tibetan owners, but is directly
attributable to the relatively recent Chinese invasion of Tibet and the subsequent destruc-
tion of a large percentage of its monasteries and the death or uprooting of many practic-
ing Tibetan Buddhists.
Finally, the refugees in India, Nepal, and the West have worked very hard to overcome
enormous obstacles and maintain their religion and culture outside of Tibet. We would
have to be able to point to great advances in knowledge to be gained by desecrating their
sacred objects through opening them in order to even begin to justify that practice.
The previous openings of statues have afforded us an opportunity to document the
types and range of objects they may contain. We now have data to compare actual
contents with textual and ethnographic descriptions of what the contents should com-
prise. The question to address now is: Should we open any more statues for study of the
interior contents? Although each conservator must decide how to handle curatorial
requests, it is my opinion, after reviewing the evidence, that these statues should not be
tampered with and that instead, more effort should be expended to find alternative art
historical and scientific methods for obtaining the desired information about the history
and context of Tibetan bronzes.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
THE RESEARCH and writing of this paper were carried out while I was an associate
conservation scientist at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art Conservation Center. I
am grateful to several colleagues for their help. Billie Milam, while senior objects conser-
vator there, and Steve Cristin-Poucher, objects conservator, opened the statues with great
care. Victoria Blyth-Hill, senior paper conservator, handled all of the paper objects
recovered and prepared them so they could be safely studied. All photographs were taken
by John Gebhard and Adam Avila of the Conservation Center. Rainer Berger from the
UCLA Radiocarbon Laboratory provided the carbon-14 dates. Pieter Meyers, in numerous
discussions about these pieces, had many insightful suggestions. Terry Reedy made
suggestions regarding the organization of the paper that resulted in significant improve-
ments in clarity. I also wish to thank all of the Tibetan teachers who kindly took the time
to respond to my questionnaire. An earlier version of this paper was presented in the
General Session at the 17th annual meeting of the American Institute for Conservation of
Historic and Artistic Works, Cincinnati, 1989.

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Aye Tulku, Lobsang Nyima. 1989. Letter to author.
Clark, W. E. 1937. Two lamaisticpantheons. 2 vols. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Dagyab, L. S. 1977. Tibetan religious art. 2 vols. Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz.

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34 Chandra L. Reedy

Getty, A. 1962. The gods of norther Buddhism. [1928] Rutland: Charles E. Tuttle.
Gyatso, J. 1986. Images as presence: The place of art in Tibetan religious thinking. In V. Reynolds,
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Reedy, C. L. 1986. A Buddha within a Buddha: Two medieval Himalayan metal statues. Arts of Asia
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Reedy, C. L. 1987. Tibetan art as an expression of north Indian tantric Buddhism. In Himalayas at a
Crossroads: Portraitof a Changing World,ed. D. Shimkhada. Pasadena: Pacific Asia Museum. 35-60.
Reedy, C. L. n.d. Himalayan bronzes: Using technical analysis to determine regional origins. Pasadena
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Reedy, C. L., and P. Meyers. 1987. An interdisciplinary method for employing technical data to
determine regional provenance of copper alloy statues. In Recent advances in the conservation and
analysis of artifacts, comp. J. Black. London: Summer Schools Press. 173-78.
Reynolds, V., A. Heller, and J. Gyatso. 1986. The Newark Museum Tibetan collection III:Sculpture and
painting. Newark: Newark Museum.
Roerich, G. N. 1979. The blue annals. [2d ed 1947] Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass.
Sharpa Tulku, and M. Perrott. 1985. The ritual of consecration. Tibet Journal 10(2):35-49.
Snellgrove, D. 1978. The image of the Buddha. Paris: UNESCO.
Tarthang Tulku. 1989. Letter to author.
Tucci, G. 1935. Indo-Tibetica2, pt. 1 (Tabo). Rome: Reale Accademia d'Italia.
Tucci, G. 1949. Tibetan painted scrolls. 3 vols. Rome: La LibreriaDello Stato.
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CHANDRA L. REEDY
CHANDRA L. REEDY is an assistant professor in the Art Conservation Program of the
University of Delaware and coordinator of its new Ph.D. program in art conservation
research. She was previously employed as a scientist at the Los Angeles County Museum
of Art Conservation Center. She received her graduate training at the University of
California, Los Angeles, where she received her Ph.D. from the interdisciplinary Archaeol-
ogy Program with specializations in materials analysis of art and archaeological objects
and in the South Asian region. She has done fieldwork in north India and maintains
research interests in the history of Tibetan art, material culture, and religion. Address:
Art Conservation Department, University of Delaware, 303 Old College, Newark, Del.
19716.

RECEIVED FOR review February 1, 1990. Revised manuscript received June 16, 1990.
Accepted July 2, 1990.

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