Inventory no.: 4430

Tibetan Tockcha, Thokcha, Togcha, Thogchag, Thogchak, Tokche, Thog-lcag

SOLD

Horse & Rider Talisman or Tokcha

Tibet or Central Asia

circa 9th century

diameter: 5.5cm, weight: 68g

This well-worn tokcha comprises a central figure of a rider on a horse within a roundel decorated with three ridges. It dates to around the 9th century and has a superb patina consistent with this dating.

The rider appears to be wearing a pointed helmet of a type that was won in Tibet but also in Central Asia.

Tokchas (also spelt as thokcha, tokche, thogchak, thog-lcag, or thogchag) are small ‘found’ ancient, sacred objects that went on to serve as votive talismans, and which were valued for their magical properties. Usually they are of bronze or copper alloy. Many are believed to also contain some meteoric metal. Tibetans highly prized them and would wear them to protect them and to absorb evil. Usually they were hung from the neck or attached to clothing, but also were sewn onto amulet pouches or attached to religious articles. They were also used by Tibetan sharmans – healers, spirit-mediums and magicians – as part of their ‘tools’ of trade.

Particularly effective or powerful

tokchas would be sold on or passed down through the generations. Accordingly, genuine and powerful tokchas should show a great deal of wear, as in the case of the example here.

It is likely that many

tokchas originally were belt fittings or ornaments either from Tibet or from the Eurasian Steppes and Central Asia or Persia, and were traded into Tibet along Silk Road trading routes. Others were purpose-made as talismans, which explains why some genuine tokchas can be very similar. The traditional belief however, was that tokchas were not made by humans and even that they had simply fallen from the sky. The animal motifs employed in many tokchas suggest a linkage to Tibet’s pre-Buddhist Bon past. (Buddhism was introduced to Tibet in the early 7th century.)

Four related

tokchas (including one that is almost identical to the example here) comprised lot 3056, in Bonham’s New York sale, ‘Indian, Himalayan & Southeast Asia Art’, March 13, 2017. See those

here

. And see another example

here

.

A similar ‘horse and rider’

tokcha is illustrated in Heller (2008, p. 112).

The example here is in a stable and wearable condition. As mentioned, it has an exceptional patina and obvious antiquity. It was acquired from the estate of a private English collector who built up a fine collection of

tokchas over his lifetime.

References

Bashkanov, M., M. Bashkanov, P. Petrov, & N. Serikoff, Arts from the Land of Timur: An Exhibition from a Scottish Private Collection, Sogdiana Books, 2012.

Heller, A.,

Early Himalayan Art, Ashmolean Museum, 2008.

Reynolds, V.

et al, From the Sacred Realm: Treasures of Tibetan Art from the Newark Museum, Prestel, 1999.

Provenance

private collection, UK.

Inventory no.: 4430

SOLD

here