The Potala Palace Thangka is a novel painting art that arose during the Songtsen Gampo period, that is, a scroll painting framed with colored satin, with distinct national characteristics, strong religious colors and unique artistic style, which has always been regarded as a treasure by the Tibetan people. Thangka comes in a variety of varieties and textures, but most are drawn on canvas and paper. In addition, there are embroidery, brocade, silk and appliqué fabric thangka, and some also have colorful patterns, and the pearls and jade gemstones are embellished with gold wire. The art of Thangka painting is a culmination of Tibetan culture and has had a far-reaching influence over the past thousand years.
The Thangka of the Potala Palace has a wide variety of contents, ranging from colorful Buddha statues to pictures reflecting Tibetan history and ethnic customs. The composition of Tibetan thangka is rigorous, balanced, plump and changeable, and the painting methods are mainly heavy colors and white paintings.
There are many varieties of thangkas, in addition to painted thangkas and printed thangkas, there are embroidery, brocade (pile embroidery), silk, appliqués and pearl thangkas. Embroidered thangkas are embroidered with various colors of silk thread, and all landscapes, figures, flowers, feathers, pavilions, pavilions, etc. can be embroidered. Brocade thangka is made of satin pattern, with several colors of silk as the weft, inter-fault jacquard and woven, pasted on the fabric, so it is also called "pile embroidery". The decal thangka is made of satin of various colors, cut into various figures and figures, and pasted on the fabric. Silk thangka is a method of "through the warp and weft", using various colored weft lines only for strong decoration. Some also put pearls and jade gemstones on the colorful patterns, and the pearls and jade stones are decorated with gold wire, and the beads are combined and the gold colors shine brightly, which is particularly brilliant and dazzling. Silk reeling is a special handicraft unique to the mainland that transplants paintings onto silk fabrics. These fabric thangkas are tight and thick in texture, rigorous in composition, exquisite in pattern and brilliant in color. Tibetan fabric thangka is specially made in the interior, especially in the Ming Dynasty Yongle and Chenghua years to Tibet, and later Tibet can also produce embroidery and decal fabric thangka. There are two kinds of printed thangkas, one is framed after printing in full chromatic color, and the other is to first engrave the painted image into a carved board, print it on thin silk or muslin cloth with ink, and then color it and frame it. This kind of thangka, the stroke is slender, the knife technique is vigorous, the color is mostly ink dyed outside, and the Zhu painting is inside, the layers are clear and unique. The pattern needs to be intertwined with the warp silk everywhere, and it is regarded as an image of carving, with elegant style and three-dimensional decorative effect. At present, most of the sales on the market are printed thangkas and drawn thangkas.
Thangka art treasures Tibetan thangka have a long history, rich content, and considerable quantity, but due to various social turmoil, there are few thangkas preserved from ancient paintings in the Tang and Song dynasties. There is a thangka called "Sangjie Dongxia" preserved in The Temple, which is painted with thirty-five Buddha statues, and its simple and elegant style is very similar to the murals of the same period in the Dunhuang Grottoes, which is said to be a work of the Tubo period and is an extremely rare precious cultural relic. Three thangkas of the Song Dynasty were seen in the Potala Palace, two of which were custom-made in the interior. Below the statue of Pamadun Yuezhupa there is a Tibetan inscription, which means that Jiang Cunza ordered this thangka to give to his teacher Zaba Gyaltsen. Zaba Gyaltsen was the third ancestor of the five Sakya patriarchs, succeeding Sakya Dachin in 1182 AD. There is another portrait of the Gongtang Lama, who was born in 1123 AD and died in 1194, and his almost sketched Silk Thangka is also a work of the late Song Dynasty. There is also a biographical thangka of Milarepa, which mainly depicts the plot of Milarepa's asceticism, a simple and concise composition, according to the identification of relevant connoisseurs, it is a painting thangka of the Song Dynasty. The lotus net Guanyin statue, the picture does not seek fine work and richness, but renders the theme with beautiful colors, which can be called the representative work of the Yuan Dynasty.
In the Ming and Qing dynasties, in order to strengthen its rule over Tibet, the central government adopted the method of sealing the leaders of various schools of Buddhism in Tibet, and the eight kings of the Ming Dynasty and the Dalai Lama, the Panchen Lama, and Hutuktu were the specific implementation of this kind of management. These measures are beneficial to the stability of Tibetan society and the socio-economic and cultural development. Tibetan thangka art has also reached a new peak with its development. In this period, the number of thangkas increased significantly; second, the formation of different styles of painting schools, which is the inevitable result of the long-term development of Tibetan painting and the more mature expression of Tibetan painting art. Generally speaking, the thangka of the former collection is rigorous in composition, fine in penmanship, especially good at portraits, and good at portraying the inner world of the characters. The later thangkas are delicate with pens, gorgeous in style, full in composition, fine in lines, and rich in coloring, which is a painting method of gongbi color.
Holy Heavenly Bodhisattva (Qing Dynasty - embroidery), also known as Ayetimpa, one of the six solemn two sages of the Southern Ganbu Prefecture, a 17th-century work.
Auspicious Wheel of Time (Ming Dynasty - embroidery), 14th century work.
Duxiong Da Wei De Vajrayogini (Ming Dynasty - Gold Silk Weaving), a tantric supreme Buddha-figure, a special Buddha-figure cultivated by Tsongkhapa, is a 14th-century work.
Mandala City (Qing Dynasty - cloth painting), three heads and eight arms of the large white umbrella to cover the altar city of the Buddha. The 17th century is a Chinzi work.
The Fifth Dalai Lama (Qing Dynasty – cloth painting), a 17th-century work of the Tang Dynasty.
Shakyamuni Buddha (Qing Dynasty – Golden Juice Painting)
Sakya. Gongganingbu (Qing Dynasty - cloth painting), this picture is one of the biographies of Guanyin Bunsen, the central figure is Sakya, one of the five great masters of the Sakya school of Tibetan Buddhism. Gongganimbu, surrounded by the architectural style of the Potala White House, is a 17th-century Work of the Mentang School.
King Songtsen Gampo (Qing Dynasty - Cloth Painting)
Lotus Language (Qing Dynasty - Cloth Painting), lotus language Buddha-figure is one of the five Dharma lines of the eight great Dharma practices, surrounded by the lotus tribe gods, the 17th century is the work of the Qinzi school.
True Intention (Qing Dynasty - Cloth Painting), True Intention Buddha-figure is one of the five Dharma Lines of the Eight Great Dharma Practices, surrounded by the gods of True Intention, and is a 17th-century Chinzi painting.
Ganlu Gongde (Qing Dynasty - Cloth Painting), Ganlu Gongde Buddha-figure is one of the five Dharma Practices of the Eight Great Dharma Practices, surrounded by the gods of the Gongde Clan, and is a work of the Qinzi school in the 17th century.
The Shu Cause and the Worship of the World God (Qing Dynasty - Cloth Painting), the Shu Cause Buddha-figure is one of the five Dharma Acts of the Eight Great Dharmas. The god of the Zanshi is one of the three Dharmas of the world, a common practice of the Dharma, and is a work of the Chinzi school in the 17th century.
White Tara (Qing Dynasty - Golden Law Painting), one of the Buddhist longevity Buddha-figures, surrounded by thousands of white Taras painted with gold juice, is a 17th-century Work of the Tang Dynasty.
Auspicious Tianmu (Qing Dynasty - cloth painting), holding an arrow in the right hand, holding a treasure pot in the left hand, with Songzan Gampo above, surrounded by twelve Yongning Dimu, 17th-century Mentang school works.
Vajrapani (Qing Dynasty - cloth painting), all the masters of the Vajrapani are held in blue, holding bells and pestles, above which are dharma bodies, reincarnations, and avatars, and below are Maitreya, Manjushri, and so on.
Dense Manjushri Vajrayogini (Ming Dynasty – cloth painting), one of the Supreme Tantric Buddha-figures, was a work of the Chinzi school in the 14th century.
The Great Pagoda of Bedan Drepung (Qing Dynasty – Cloth Painting), in the solemn and auspicious Jumi Pagoda of India, Shakyamuni Buddha, dressed in the costume of the Emperor, teaches the Kalachakra Buddha-
Next, please enjoy a group of thangkas numbered 162-247346: