Beginning in the fifteenth century there was a gradual shift in Tibetan art from an Indic-centered aesthetic toward a more Chinese-centered one. This shift reflects the disappearance of Buddhism in India and Tibet’s increasingly close cultural, economic, and political ties to its northeastern Mongolian and Chinese neighbors.
In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, newly emerging Tibetan painting styles in Central Tibet were named after famous indigenous masters and artistic centers rather than adopted traditions such as Eastern Indian, Kashmiri, or Nepalese. These new styles, including the Menri, Khyenri, and Gardri, were known for their integration of Chinese-inspired landscapes and corresponding shift to increasingly green and blue palettes of malachite and azurite.
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Tibet
19th century
Sherab Chamma, the Loving Mother of Wisdom, is the principal female deity of Bon, a religion indigenous to Tibet. Her primary role is that of a compassionate mother figure, embodying wisdom. She is therefore considered the mother of all Bon deities and enlightened ones.
Bon coexisted with Buddhism for centuries in some communities, and local painters created works for both religious traditions, drawing on the same visual vocabulary. The deep, flat blue and gray hues suggest this painting might be from southern Amdo or northern Kham region, where the Bon religion flourished in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
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