The most magical thing about thangkas, their pigments are pure natural, a good thangka is generally painted by more than 30 colors, some as many as 50 kinds, of which white, yellow, red, blue, green are the most common five basic colors, in the professional thangka painters, they are called white, stone yellow, big red, dark blue and stone green. It is a color that never fades, just like the eternal covenant between the painter and the gods and Buddhas in the thangka.
Filigree four-armed Kannon
Thangka pigments are mainly composed of minerals and plants: 1, minerals are mainly malachite, mica, cinnabar, pyrite, limonite, kaolin, azurite, female yellow, male yellow, porcelain clay ore; 2, plants mainly include rouge, Xu Kang grass, flower blue, yellow lotus, small millet and so on. The processing of pigments is all manual operation, the process is complex, the pigment purity is high, the quality is stable, very thick and gorgeous.
In his book "Traditional Tibetan Painting", Danpa Jordan describes in detail the content and meaning of the different colors in the thangka in the form of poetry:
Golden Don Green Tara
The king of red and orange, eternal and unchanging majesty, blue and blue beautiful and happy home, rich, wise people as companions, relatives and friends in it, dark and mighty as military attachés, with your black to strengthen again, clear three green like lake water, not allowed to let The Ba lai separate, the first messenger light rouge, Geshe stone yellow serving the living Buddha, earth yellow you put the golden pad as a, the behavior of relatives and friends, according to your needs, you choose, smoke color, male butter to run the kitchen, faithful help the kitchen dark emerald green, the nature of color from the middle, persuade the king to remember in your heart.
Four-armed Kannon
Usually speaking: red thangado paints the story of Buddha Bunsen, with a rich style; black thangkador paints the content of the protector god, King Kong and other town demons, and applies golden hook lines, the picture is majestic and solemn; blue thangka is more painted with themes such as Joyful Buddha and Shengle King Kong, which have auspicious and festive meanings; gold and silver thangkas, the picture is rich and elegant, and the color is simple and brilliant.
Senju Kannon
In addition, in thangkas, colors are often used to express the appearance and character of the gods and Buddhas, white represents calm, kindness and kindness, red and dark blue represent mighty and vicious, and gold represents multiple colors, representing a sacred atmosphere.
Next, please enjoy a group of Manjushri Bodhisattva Thangkas numbered 162-391780: