Tibetan Thangka
01 · Historical Records
In the 15th century, landscape painting techniques with realistic features appeared in Tianzhu thangka works, and this tradition has been passed down to the present day. In the 18th century, Sumba Yixi Huajue compiled the Proportions for Image Making (Zaoxiang Liangdu Jing), which summarized Tianzhu thangka and became a theoretical monograph with local characteristics, filling a gap in theoretical writing.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
The basic expressive techniques of Tianzhu thangka share certain commonalities with the thangka painting schools popular in Ü-Tsang and Kham. The painting process includes drawing positioning lines, drafting the composition, baimiao (white-line) drawing, applying color and washes, and outlining and gilding; the compositional forms are divided into three types: central composition, narrative composition, and mandala composition. Its early works benefited from the dual influence of the ancient Dunhuang painting art and South Asian Indian art, adding some Central Asian features on the basis of the Pala style. The subject matter of Tianzhu thangka covers many fields including Tibetan history, religion, politics, culture, and social life; it can be called an encyclopedia of the Tibetan people. As a painting art that combines two aesthetic tastes and can put them into practice, it has promoted two-way exchange and development between Han and Tibetan art, and is a concentrated expression of how the multi-ethnic peoples of China jointly created the history of Chinese civilization.
The Sutra of Iconometric Proportions
Compiled in the eighteenth century by Sumpa Yeshe Paljor, this treatise summarised Tianzhu scroll painting and became its locally distinctive theoretical work, filling a gap in the region's theory.
The three-rivers and Hualui styles
In the late Ming and early Qing, Tianzhu scrolls and Hexi water-and-land paintings influenced each other in subject and style, a fusion current in the Hualui area of the Huangshui, Datong and Zhuanglang river basins and called the three-rivers or Hualui style.
Gyentang, the wall scroll
Locally mural and scroll count as one Buddhist art, monastic murals being called gyentang, a tsangka on the wall — a variant of the scroll with wider subjects and more varied styles than cloth painting.
Central, narrative and mandala compositions
Its methods share ground with the scroll schools of Tsang and Kham — laying the axis lines, drafting, fine-line drawing, colour and gradation, outlining and gilding — and its compositions are central, narrative or mandala in type.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
Tianzhu thangka is a traditional thangka school distributed mainly in Tianzhu Tibetan Autonomous County, Wuwei City, Gansu Province, and is an important branch of Tibetan thangka art. However, it displays certain local characteristics in style. In the late Ming and early Qing period, it and the Hexi Water-and-Land (Shuilu) paintings influenced and borrowed from each other, and a trend of integration and development emerged in subject matter and style. This style was mainly popular in the Huarong region of the three major river basins of the Huangshui, Datong, and Zhuanglang rivers, and is called the 'Three Waters style' in academic circles, also known as the 'Huarong style'. In the local cultural tradition, thangka and murals are classified as a form of Tibetan Buddhist art. Murals in monasteries are called 'jian tang', meaning 'thangka painted on walls', and are regarded as another kind of thangka creation; compared with traditional thangka painted on cloth, their themes are broader and their styles more varied. It has promoted employment for local farmers and herders and advanced economic development, playing a positive role in maintaining social harmony and promoting ethnic prosperity.
Other submitting regions for the same item: Tibetan Thangka · Tibetan Thangka · Tibetan Thangka · Tibetan Thangka · Tibetan Thangka · Tibetan Thangka · Tibetan Thangka · Tibetan Thangka · Tibetan Thangka · Tibetan Thangka · Tibetan Thangka · Tibetan Thangka · Tibetan Thangka · Tibetan Thangka.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
At present, Tianzhu thangka creation shows characteristics of diversification and integration, having absorbed techniques such as Han-style gongbi (fine-line brushwork) painting and realistic painting. Its artistic styles are varied and its creative themes are rich; it is no longer limited to Buddhist deities and mythological figures, and pays more attention to history and reality. Tianzhu thangka is transmitted through the master-apprentice method and has now reached the sixth generation.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Danbaraodan 01-0063
- Gesangcidan 01-0064
- Yandengzeren 04-1748
- Luobusida 04-1749
- Xirebu 04-1750
- Jiumai 04-1751
- Lameng 05-2581
- Cirenluobu 05-2582
- Zhaxi 05-2583
- Gade 05-2584
- Mimaciren 05-2585
- Jiaobajiabu 05-2586
- Qujiu
- Gesang
- Nima
- Tudengweise
- Gamadanzeng
- Luozhubasong
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
This static English edition is rendered at the edge for search engines, AI crawlers and readers without JavaScript; it mirrors the bilingual dossier. 阅读中文版，或返回 英文名录。