Five examples show the results of smoking before and after:
Unfortunately, due to the high price of antique thangkas, these scroll paintings are often counterfeited. One of the techniques used is to artificially age the thangkas. This involves smoking the images. The smoke is produced by burning a mixture of sawdust and bones. However, it is very difficult to achieve a uniform colouring of the images, and the faked thangkas can be recognised for a long time by the intense smell of smoke.Of course, the Dharmapala Thangka Centre does not forge thangkas in order to offer them as 'old'. However, thanks to a further development of the process, it is now possible to give each finished scroll painting a special treatment to give it an antique character through a fine, even smoky tone in a selectable degree [light, medium and heavy].
In the special smoking process, the thangkas are exposed to the smoke of hundreds of incense sticks and other materials for one to seven days, depending on the desired intensity of colouring. Unlike wood or bone smoking the entire surface of the image is uniformly tinted. In addition, the unpleasant and long-lasting smell of smoke is avoided.
Five examples show the effects of incense respectively before and after:
Please take into account that the photos can not fully reflect the excellent result of the smoking process.
| Two Videos from the fumigation |
| Video 1 | Video 2 |