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Tonpa Shenrab (Founder of Bon)
Tibet (Western Tibet, Guge)
16th century
- Medium
- Opaque watercolor with gold on cotton
- Classification
- Painting
- Dimensions
- 117.2 × 92.1 × 6.1 cm (46 1/8 × 34 5/8 × 2 3/8 in.)
- Culture
- Tibet
- Museum
- Art Institute of Chicago, Arts of Asia
- Credit line
- Gift of Marilynn B. Alsdorf
- Rights
- Public domain (CC0), as the museum states it.
- Who can see it
- Teens profiles and older: its museum says too little about what it shows to place it for younger viewers. How works are placed
View at the Art Institute of Chicago
About this work
At the center of the thangka, Tonpa Shenrap, the founder of Bon, a pre-Buddhist religion of the Himalayas (prior to the 8th century), presides on an elaborate throne. He is flanked by two attendants and surrounded by a retinue of 250 enlightened beings. He forms a group with the Four Transcendent Lords, and together they are known as the 1,000 enlightened ones. Along the bottom register the donors of the painting preside at the left, while Bon priests – distinguishable by their hats – preside at right. Although the artistic tradition closely follows Buddhist visual culture, as is evident in the composition and iconography, there are distinguishing features. These include Tonpa Shenrap’s intricate crown, and details of his throne such as the dragon entwined columns, and the blue eagle (khyung) a lesser Bon deity, at the apex.
The Guge style of painting, named after the Guge kingdom in the Western Himalayas (11th -17th century), is evident in the way the subsidiary figures are arranged in both horizontal and vertical alignment. Another feature is the large scrolls framing the top of the throne.
Description © Art Institute of Chicago, CC BY 4.0
