A spectacular group of thogkchas, Tibet, Himalayan regions and Central Asia, 8th - 14th century

Acquired in the US and Hong Kong in the 1990s and early 2000s.

This spectacular assemblage of Tibetan thokchas was acquired by Dr. C. Ashley McAllen, a collector with a deep passion for Tibetan art and culture. A medical doctor by profession, he organized five charitable medical expeditions attending to the needs of Tibetan nomads in Western Tibet. This sparked his interest in early Tibetan history and archaeology, and initiated him as a collector of rare early thokchas. All the thokchas here, offered as lots 895 to 901, were acquired in the US and Hong Kong in the 1990s and early 2000s under the guidance of Dr John Vincent Belleza, the scholar, explorer and foremost specialist in the archaeology of ancient Tibet, and senior research fellow at the Tibet Center, University of Virginia.