Tibetan Metalwork; Tibetan Decoration and Ornament; Pendants Jewelry; Fibula Archaeology; Tibetan Iconography; Anninos, Tony
摘要
Part of a special section on Tibetan art. Few historical references remain of Tibetan civilization in the 150 years or so after the dissolution of the empire and the start of the "Second Diffusion" in the 11th century，but some tokches may serve as informative "documents" of this period. Tokches are small bronze objects that may or may not have originally been intended as amulets. Most items published as tokches are iconographically Buddhist; some，however，have been described as relics of pre-Buddhist belief systems, and these illustrate the conceptual changes that took place when Buddhism took hold as a cultural unifier in Tibet. Two notable zoomorphic icons are prominently featured among tokches, the eagle deity or khyung and the lion. The former is a pre-Buddhist mystical remnant absorbed by Tibetan Buddhism，illustrating the earliest introduction of Buddhist art in Tibet. However，it was the lion that signified the new era, becoming accepted as the essential animal symbol through its connotation of the Buddhist domain.
