Tibetan Tanka 18.05.559
The mantle is typically constructed from a rich material, usually silk brocade, and the painting is generally executed in oils on treated cotton duck, although some notable exceptions occur, including pictures created from pigments ground from semi-precious stones, appliqué and silk or cotton embroidery. Thangkas typically depict important Buddhist motifs, the Wheel of Life, images of the Buddha, other Buddhist deities and mandalas being the most common. Thangka paintings are usually very intricate and detailed, with images inter-woven in a stylised geometric series of overlapping grids, taking many weeks or even months to complete. As stated by Wikipedia:
Most thangkas were intended for personal meditation or instruction of monastic students. They often have elaborate compositions including many very small figures. A central deity is often surrounded by other identified figures in a symmetrical composition. Narrative scenes are less common, but do appear. The Buddhist Vajrayana practitioner uses a thanka image of their yidam, or meditation deity, as a guide, by visualizing "themselves as being that deity, thereby internalizing the Buddha qualities"[1] tangkas hang on or beside altars, and may be hung in the bedrooms or offices of monks and other devotees.
