TIBET, 18TH CENTURY

Painted in the New Menri style developed by Choyang Gyatso in 1645, the present painting depicts Buddha Shakyamuni surrounded by vignettes depicting various Jataka tales from the compendium of tales authored by the Third Karmapa, Rangjung Dorje (1284-1339). The present work was likely part of a larger set depicting the hundred Jataka tales, with each painting centered by an image of Buddha Shakyamuni. Here, the historical Buddha is depicted seated in vajrasana on a lotus base with his hands held in the teaching gesture, dharmachakramudra. The rich palette of greens and blues, evocative of Chinese landscape paintings, indicates the work is a product of the eighteenth century, when diffusion of artistic styles between Tibetan and Chinese culture was perhaps at its zenith.