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Tibetan Thangka Painting

Type Object Region Tibet Time c. 700

Thangka is a Tibetan Buddhist painting tradition on cloth or paper depicting Buddhas, bodhisattvas, protectors, lamas, and mandalas for worship, medi…

Timeline

  1. c. 1073–1250Sakya · Sa'gya CountyThe Sakya school, known for family lineage and tantric practice, hung thangkas in temples and aristocratic residences for worship and visualization. Paintings followed iconometric treatise standards, decorated with red, blue, and green mineral pigments and gold leaf, covering jataka tales, protectors, and lineage charts of lamas.
  2. 1251Sakya and the Mongol court · Mongolian PlateauSakya Pandita traveled to Liangzhou to meet Köden in 1244–1246; after his death in 1251 his nephew Phagpa succeeded him. Thangkas circulated as political-religious gifts between Tibet and the Mongol court; Phagpa later became Imperial Preceptor to Kublai Khan, promoting the eastward spread of Tibetan Buddhism and incorporating Mongol patron portraits into thangka subjects.
  3. 1260–1368Dadu (Beijing) · BeijingAfter being appointed Imperial Preceptor in the 1260s, Phagpa resided at the Yuan court, where Tibetan thangkas, Chinese gongbi painting, and Nepalese Newar styles mingled in the imperial workshops; Sanskrit-style and Chinese-style Buddhist images stood side by side, laying the foundation for Ming and Qing court thangkas and the eastward spread of Tibetan Buddhist art.

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