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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Central Tibet
early 17th century (ca. 1604)
This painting of the meditation deity Akshobhyavajra was once part of a larger set of paintings created for the funeral services of the Fourteenth Ngor Khenchen, Jampa Kunga Tashi (1558–1603), suggesting a date of 1604. The gilding of the figures has no iconographic significance, but it may have been employed to increase the merit generated for the deceased.
Many of the stylistic elements—including the faces, scrollwork background, and hierarchical organization—are reminiscent of early Tibetan art. In contrast, the sense of movement, fullness, and patterns of the deities’ garments, such as the Chinese-inspired flowers and clouds, are more recent developments that emerged with the Khyenri painting tradition in the fifteenth century.
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