Gold in the Tibet Series: The Gilded Glory of Sacred Art
A 15th-century work titled "Gilded Treasure Adorning the Image of Shakyamuni Buddha," currently in a private collection, is attributed to the stylistic creation of Sonam Jangzam (བསོད་ནམས་རྒྱལ་མཚན་), a master craftsman of Tibet's post-classical period. The "Gilded Animal Motif Jewelry Fragment," collected by Jeremy Pine during the former dynasty and photographed by Mark French, features a central animal motif identified as the native mythical bird "Qiong" (referred to as the Garuda in a Buddhist context). Dating to the first half of the 20th century and originating from the Losa Menzikang Tibetan Medicine Institute, "Blue Lapis Tibetan Medicine Thangka: Pharmacological Properties and Actions" contains a portion made up of "Ae" Gold, Mongolian Gold, and Platinum. As a note, it is generally believed that "Ae" gold comes from South Asia and is named after the place "Ae" (in present-day Qusong County) where it is processed, although this explanation remains doubtful.
Muya white gold' is well known in Tibetan regions for being easy to identify. Additionally, some gold originating from Han areas is referred to as "Mongolian gold".
This passage is drawn from *The Essentials of Treasure Differentiation* by Lungto Rinpoche Awang Lotsawa (Klong rdol bla ma; 1719–1794). Gold may be found across many lands: from the dragon fish and long life bird, from the sands along the shores of the great ocean, and through the melting of ore known as "Kulong" in the northern frontier. Zhanbu continent yields its own gold, as do the seaside sands, while both Tibet and the Khampa regions are rich in the metal throughout. Note that "Kurang" is roughly located in what is now Nepal.
Ancient Ali gold is referred to as "Kurang gold" as well. Additionally, "Kurangba" is understood to mean "pure substance." The source "Blue Lapis Lazuli Thangka of Tibetan Medicine: Pharmacological Properties and Functions" notes that, during the first half of the 20th century, the Lhasa Menzikang Tibetan Medical Institute documented a portion concerning bird feces red gold and "Zéqiè Mà Golden," with an annotation indicating that the former is associated with the mythical Longevity Bird. This particular gold produces an exceptionally pleasing sound when struck. "Mizuchimah gold" is possibly connected to the dragon fish, and applying black hellebore juice to it results in a rainbow ring. In the same source, another portion addresses "Salerjan" gold and Kamba gold, with a note explaining that "Salerjan" gold exists in both red and yellow varieties.
The difference between the two types lies in the ore's gold content. During the classical period, one was considered superior, while Kangba gold was used for everyday purposes. This is reflected in the following Tibetan passage: ས་ལས་ཐོན་པ་ཐིག་པ་ཆེ་བྱུང་ན། ས་ལེ་སྦྲམ་ཟེར་བྱེ་མ་གསེར་ལ་མིན། བསྲེག་ན་དམར་ཞིང་བརྡར
From the "Essential Collection of Precious Treasures Analysis Methods," composed by Khenpo Awa Lobsang (ཀློང་རྡོལ་བླ་མ་；1719-1794), this selection is also called premium gold. A note clarifies that "Salerjan gold" is regarded as pure gold. Furthermore, the expressions "morning, noon, evening" do not signify parts of a single day; rather, they denote the varying hues of gold at different processing stages.
The gold horse-shaped pendant, gold earrings, and gold ring are artifacts unearthed in Langkazi County from the era of the former dynasty. Such a horse-shaped pendant has seldom appeared in previous archaeological excavations. According to "Excavated Horse-Shaped Ornaments from Chajia Gou Ancient Tomb in Langkazi County," the item was sourced from the Cultural Relics Bureau of Shannan City, Tibet, during the former dynasty period.
Gold’s special position in Tibet was once assessed by Xu Qin Trichenqing (ཞུ་ཆེན་ཚུལ་ཁྲིམས་རིན་ཆེན་; 1697-1774), a distinguished artist and naturalist, who remarked: “When it comes to treasures of the Snow Land, gold and turquoise can be honored; when it comes to all metals, gold is the father and silver is the mother.” Meanwhile, in Tibet, gold and silver are commonly called “the great precious” (ནོར་བུ་ཆེ་བ་) and “the second precious” (ནོར་བུ་གཉིས་པ་), respectively. Goldsmiths, for their part, are likewise termed “followers of the moon” (ཟླ་བས་འཇུག་).
According to ancient South Asian legends, gold dust appears when moonlight falls upon the sea; it is burnt to please the fire god, which is why gold is known as "fire seed" (མེ་ཡི་ས་བོན་).
In Tibetan usage, the Buddhist scriptural accounts of gold's origin also appear, such as the tale where a dragon churns the sea and thereby produces gold dust, or the auspicious immortal bird that resides near the golden sea of the southern Jambudvipa (བྱ་བཀྲ་ཤིས་མི་འཆི་བ་; also known as the longevity bird in the text above) and releases gold after drinking seawater for an extended time.
The 'Ancient Tibetan Gold Vessel Adorned with Bird and Beast Designs in Turquoise', from the Tubo Period and the Chicago Pritzker Foundation Collection, is a Tibetan gold vessel resembling common Eurasian vessel shapes. During the Tubo period, golden jars, golden plates, and golden crowns served as royal ceremonial vessels. Some scholars refer to Tubo as the 'Land of Golden.' These gold artifacts were popular across the Eurasian continent in the Middle Ages.
The 'Golden City'—a building model crafted wholly from gold, adorned with innumerable carvings of animals and warriors—was offered by Tubo to the Tang Dynasty in the second year of Xianqing (657 AD). At that time, all of Chang'an's residents admired it.
A Nepalese-style artwork measuring 15.3 cm in height, "Avalokiteshvara with a Gilt Face" was created in the second half of the 13th century and is now held in the Tibet Museum. To the Tubo people, golden statuettes were emblems of power, golden vessels signified noble lineage and special status, and a gold mask used in burial rites conferred eternal blessings and an unchangeable fate in the "Paradise" (བདེ་སྐྱིད་གནས་). Proverbs likewise describe Tubo as the "Land of Golden Earth".
From a private collection, the “Gold-inlaid Turquoise-inlaid Parrot-shaped Teapot” is from the mid to late 19th century. The Stupa of the Fifth and Thirteenth Dalai Lamas is adorned with the most gold. Frederick Spencer Chapman photographed “Partial view of the Stupa of the Thirteenth Dalai Lama, Thubten Gyatso” on November 22, 1936.
Popular gold-related narratives from the western Tibetan regions include a king being ransomed for gold matching his body weight, and noble maidens demonstrating affection through golden flowers. This area is commonly regarded as the gold art hub of the post-Tubo era.
In the Ali region, a proverb likens gold to the "son of the stars," a rhetorical device also found in Persian literature, and at least three biographical works document its mines and goldsmiths. U-Tsang is known for its gold processing and Kham for its gold decoration, each representing distinct traditions of gold art within Tibet. Tibetan craft writings have consistently focused on questions like "What is pure gold and how to obtain gold." Alongside gold myths with South Asian, Central Asian, or indigenous origins, later narratives also drew on legends from North Asia and Russia. The classical Tibetan regions produced complete texts and associated stories covering the classification of gold raw materials by purity, the fabrication of gold vessels through more than a dozen techniques, and even the alchemical practice of "turning stone into gold." Past Tibetan goldsmiths held to the industry principle: "Although gold is precious, it should not be taken lightly, forge with a devout heart." The mid-19th-century work "The Lotus Sutra Master with Clear Eyes and Wise Appearance," housed at the Ruben Museum, invites attention to the throne's multiple layers of gold or gilded ornamentation.
In Tibetan culture, gold is both the king of metals and a treasure in Buddhism, giving it special significance. One example is "Geometric Patterned Gilt Copper Box without Lid", created during the first half of the 20th century in the Jiangzi region of Shigatse, Tibet, and now held at the Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford. Another is "Rare Eight Treasures Gilt-Gold Ga Wu Box with Intricate Designs", which dates to the 18th century, belongs to a private collection, and contains a statue of Gautama Buddha.
Because of its distinctive properties, gold can be smoothly woven into everyday religious routines. Discovering gold while traveling, amassing it at home, or mining it casually all point to an unforeseen event in the future. The longing for material gold must be channeled properly, as it represents the Buddha's golden body, the Bodhisattvas' golden heart, the sacred golden circle, and the eternal golden sea.
Gold jewelry, when worn, can purge toxins and soothe the mind. In celestial realms such as the Pure Land, rains of gold and golden sands descend together. In Tibetan tradition, wise people pay for their Buddhist studies with gold, despite the steep price discouraging many.
A 16th-century work housed at the Rubin Museum, "Sakya Translator: Jiang Bai Duoji and His Lineage of Masters" depicts Jiang Bai Duoji (འཇམ་པའི་རྡོ་རྗེ་: 1485-1533). The traditional Tibetan artistic technique involved in its creation uses gold, either applied as paint or drawn as fine thread. According to the saying, gold stands as the foremost treasure, just as the goldsmith is the foremost craftsman. This piece comes from a translation of Sorang Wangqing's blog article.