Antique Zanskar Bokh with thigma from Ladakh. 85x70 cms

An antique Bokh or shoulder shawl from the Zanskar region in Ladakh. This beautiful piece is dyed with a deep indigo blue colour and decorated with Thigma motifs in a variety of hot colours (pink, red, orange etc.). This piece is woven in three different parts and joined together. In mint condition. 

Material: 100% hand-spun yak wool

Size: 85×70 cms

Origin: Zanskar, Ladakh

Date of weaving: 1900s

A form of tie-resist-dyeing, thigma is practised primarily in the Nubra Valley and Saboo region of Ladakh in northern India. The word thigma (also spelled as thigme, thikma or thikme) derives from the local word thitoo, which means “dot.” The thigma technique is used to resist-dye panels of wool, which are then incorporated into local costumes and footwear.

Thigma typically involves resist-dyeing strips of woollen cloth. Sections of the cloth are pinched, tightly bound with thread or cord, and then dyed. Natural sources are used to extract different dyes and colours – apple bark and onion peels for light browns, soot for shades of grey, and roots locally known as chutza and chzot for yellow and pink respectively. Once the cloth is dyed in the desired colours, it is washed and rinsed with water. The ties are then opened to reveal the circular patterns created by the pinched folds.