Antique Tibetan Lingam Bowl

Antique Tibetan Lingam Singing Bowl.   G & E Notes (Throat & Solar Plexus Chakras)
Weight 1 lb 3 ½ oz (555g).   19.5 x 6.5 cm (approx. 7 x 2 ¾ inches)

This beautifully crafted antique Lingam Singing Bowl has a lovely shape and a great voice, but also some cosmetic issues that warrant a price reduction.

This well-made low profile bowl is quite light for its size and is therefore confortable to hold and play for an extended period.  It has an extremely nice pointed lingam at its centre, surrounded and defined by a pair of finely incised concentric circles, while a second pair of circles is situated at the point where the floor meets the wall of the bowl.  It has a good inward-facing triangulated lip, and an incised collar to the outer rim.  Underneath there is a superb navel at the centre.

This old bowl has the characteristic lingam sound.  The fundamental struck note is a very nice low third octave G sharp.  The note is the same if played around the rim with a suede ringer, but changes to an excellent fifth octave E flat if a wooden one is used.  If played with a little water inside, this bowl also has some fountain ability.

I understand that when the bowl was found and brought to Kathmandu its outer surface was covered in a thick black substance with red mold spots.  This was removed during restoration by the bowl’s Tibetan collector, only to reveal some surface acid spotting on parts of the underside.  This spotting was caused, in my view, by rotting sackcloth that originally wrapped and protected the bowl.

Many would judge these marks to be quite acceptable on an old and collectable Lingam bowl, and they appear to have no negative effect on its sound, which is very nice indeed.

{audio}lingam555.mp3{/audio}

Listen (2 struck notes and a played note)

NOT FOR SALE