What is Repousse?
Repousse[2] and casting were also boosted with the opening of Nepal’s southern border in 1950 and the rising numbers of tourists since 1965. Many were interested in going home with a piece of Newari art. Throughout this time, the Tibetan diaspora also enhanced the development of traditional metalwork. Some Tibetan Buddhists settled and built monasteries in Nepal; others emigrated farther, building monasteries on every continent. As Tibetans recreated their traditions in new lands, their need for images and ritual implements led them to commission Newar images, large and small, for their sanctuaries. Icon merchants selling to the general public in shops across the world have also added to this demand. And importantly, the rising upper middle class and Nepali elite are also interested and able to purchase fine Newar Buddhist and Hindu images. All these forces have inspired artisans to make statues of the very highest quality, selling for many thousands of dollars.
Ateliers in Patan for the past thirty years have made hundreds of large images and shipped them across the world, and the market is still expanding.[3] Unlike with painting, religious statue metalwork predominantly remains in the hands of Newar families, mostly Shakyas and (less frequently) Vajracharyas. Rudravarna Mahavihar, or Ukubahah, in the city of Lalitpur (or Patan) is the center of traditional bronze casting by the Shakya caste. Over 100 shops in the Ukubahah area alone sell cast bronze images; if one includes the whole Kathmandu Valley the number could approach 700. Today there have never been more shops selling religious statues in the Kathmandu Valley, from the narrow lanes of Patan to the 5-star hotel lobbies. Anyone visiting these shops will see wealthy buyers from across the world with discerning eyes looking for icons for their devotions and investment.
It is widely recognized that Buddhist images produced elsewhere cannot compete with those being made in the Newar workshops. Adhering to traditional lost wax and repoussé techniques, including fire gilding, Newar artisans regularly reach very high and consistent standards. In the past 10 years, casting artists have been regularly collaborating with specific chasing artists, each boosting the other to finer intricacy of detail than ever seen before, for the discerning art collector, dharma practitioner and monastic institution.
In addition, there are factories in the industrial estate where images are mass-produced with less quality and sold for export all over the world. Some workshops specialize in religious accouterments like butter lamps and Vajrayana ritual implements to adorn altars and perform rituals. Given the demand, they now use assistants from any caste group with basic skill in the use of hammer and punch to do rough finishing.
History of the Repousse Technique
Although the names of artists appeared very rarely on paintings or any other religious images, that anonymity began to change in the early twentieth century, with the fame of one Shakya family. Anandamuni Shakya (1903-1944) worked in Lhasa as a young man and returned to Kathmandu richly rewarded by a Tibetan patron with a lifetime supply of precious mineral pigments. Anandamuni opened his own art gallery in 1944. His son, Siddhimuni Shakya (1933-2001), was only eleven years old when his father died, but he emulated his father’s work and eventually outshone his talent. They became the first, and for a while, the only Newar artists to sign their works. Their artistry has now passed into the gifted hands of Siddhimuni’s son, Surendra Man Shakya. This is a classic pattern in Newar artist families in every medium, with the profession being handed down on distinct patrilineal lines. Like the Shakyas, Indigo was the first gallery in Nepal to regularly showcase artists by inviting them to sign their own artworks.
Kuber Singh Shakya - A Master Craftsman of Nepal
Repousse[2] and casting were also boosted with the opening of Nepal’s southern border in 1950 and the rising numbers of tourists since 1965. Many were interested in going home with a piece of Newari art. Throughout this time, the Tibetan diaspora also enhanced the development of traditional metalwork. Some Tibetan Buddhists settled and built monasteries in Nepal; others emigrated farther, building monasteries on every continent. As Tibetans recreated their traditions in new lands, their need for images and ritual implements led them to commission Newar images, large and small, for their sanctuaries. Icon merchants selling to the general public in shops across the world have also added to this demand. And importantly, the rising upper middle class and Nepali elite are also interested and able to purchase fine Newar Buddhist and Hindu images. All these forces have inspired artisans to make statues of the very highest quality, selling for many thousands of dollars.
Ateliers in Patan for the past thirty years have made hundreds of large images and shipped them across the world, and the market is still expanding.[3] Unlike with painting, religious statue metalwork predominantly remains in the hands of Newar families, mostly Shakyas and (less frequently) Vajracharyas. Rudravarna Mahavihar, or Ukubahah, in the city of Lalitpur (or Patan) is the center of traditional bronze casting by the Shakya caste. Over 100 shops in the Ukubahah area alone sell cast bronze images; if one includes the whole Kathmandu Valley the number could approach 700. Today there have never been more shops selling religious statues in the Kathmandu Valley, from the narrow lanes of Patan to the 5-star hotel lobbies. Anyone visiting these shops will see wealthy buyers from across the world with discerning eyes looking for icons for their devotions and investment.
It is widely recognized that Buddhist images produced elsewhere cannot compete with those being made in the Newar workshops. Adhering to traditional lost wax and repoussé techniques, including fire gilding, Newar artisans regularly reach very high and consistent standards. In the past 10 years, casting artists have been regularly collaborating with specific chasing artists, each boosting the other to finer intricacy of detail than ever seen before, for the discerning art collector, dharma practitioner and monastic institution.
In addition, there are factories in the industrial estate where images are mass-produced with less quality and sold for export all over the world. Some workshops specialize in religious accouterments like butter lamps and Vajrayana ritual implements to adorn altars and perform rituals. Given the demand, they now use assistants from any caste group with basic skill in the use of hammer and punch to do rough finishing.