Thangkas always serve as important teaching tools depicting the life of the Buddha, various influential lamas and other deities and bodhisattvas in Tibetan Buddhism, yet nowadays as they become the favorites among artwork collectors, thangkas of Tibet ’s top painters can be purchased by placing orders.

A group exhibition on thangkas of Tibet’s top painters has been held in Lhasa，the capital city of Tibet on April 10. 17 top painters of Tibet have expressed that they are willing to accept artwork collectors’ thangka orders from home and abroad.

Ngawang Tenzin, director of T.A.R.Non-material Cultural Heritage Protection Center introduced that there are 17 top thangka painters, 20 second-level thangka painters and 29 regular thangka painters approved by the government of China’s Tibet Autonomous Region. Since last year, exhibitions on delicate and precious thangkas of different types have been held, and local top painters are becoming more and more famous as thangka works favored by more and more collectors from home and abroad.

“Tibetan thangka art is at the stage of productive protection currently.” Ngawang said, “The point is to inherit the skills and createboutiques, which takes plenty of time to finish one piece of work. However, limited output will endow these works higher value as well.”