Tibetan Thangka
01 · Historical Records
Zangniang thangka is a kind of Tibetan thangka originating in the Tongtian River basin. It was created in the late 10th century AD by the Indian Buddhist master Banqin Midijiana and has a history of nearly a thousand years; it is mainly distributed in Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai Province; Garzê County, Shiqu County, and Dêgê County, Sichuan Province; and the Tibet Autonomous Region.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
Because its distribution area is remote with inconvenient transportation and has rarely been influenced by the outside world, successive generations of Zangniang thangka painters have strictly followed the ancient proportions and style, and the works have always maintained their own unique style and characteristics. With its long history, strict proportional canon, full and rich colors, and expressive forms full of charm, Zangniang thangka brings a strong visual impact and stands alone among thangka arts. Through the continuous improvement and supplementation by painters of successive generations, a strict proportional canon and a unique painting style were formed. Its works feature bright colors, heavy and solid base tones, and robust, full-bodied images. Rendering techniques are employed, with rich and fine gradations; gray is used skillfully to depict skin; figures and hair show variations between substance and void, with rich rhythms in the outlines; and symbolism, as one of the artistic means of expression, is widely applied.
Panchen Smriti Jnana and the late tenth century
A scroll tradition of the Tongtian river basin, created at the end of the tenth century by the Indian master Smriti Jnana; it lasts nearly a millennium and spreads through Yushu, Ganzi, Sershul and Dêgê.
Six formal types of the Tsangnyi scroll
By form the scrolls divide into six types — shiche, dache, zhice, zhalé, yilan and gegenqinmu — lively in subject and manner, painted with natural mineral colours that do not change.
Strict iconometry and grey flesh tones
Its remote home left it little touched from outside, and painters have kept to the old measurements and manner: bright colour on a dense ground, sturdy full forms, rich gradation, grey flesh tones and light-and-dark play in hair and figures.
Twenty scroll-painting families and twelve generations
Transmitted chiefly within families and from master to pupil, the tradition counts over twenty painting households with a documented line of twelve generations, monks being another important body who keep rare formulas and scrolls.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
Zangniang thangka uses natural mineral pigments, whose colors remain unchanged for a long time; its themes and painting style are full of the flavor of life, vivid and charming. By format it can be divided into 'lice', 'dace', 'zhice', 'zhale', 'yilan', and 'gaigeqinmu', among others. Through the joint efforts of the government and artists, Zangniang thangka art has developed day by day, forming strong transmission groups, effectively easing local employment pressure, and contributing to regional development. As a traditional culture and skill of the Tongtian River basin, Zangniang thangka carries much information about local history, religion, economy, and folk customs, and is of great significance for the study of local social and cultural development. Locally, the development of thangka skills has been combined with rural revitalization, promoting the development and prosperity of the local economy and culture.
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04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
Zangniang thangka is transmitted mainly through family or master-apprentice inheritance; there are currently more than 20 thangka families, and the clear transmission genealogy has reached 12 generations. In addition, monastery monks are also one of the important transmission groups; they have preserved many precious artistic formulas and thangka works. The government attaches great importance to the protection and transmission of this project and has adopted various effective measures, such as establishing teaching studios and transmission bases, organizing and editing thangka painting tutorials, and actively training inheritors; actively promoting thangka art into teaching materials and onto campuses to broaden the scope of transmission; taking productive protection as the principle, encouraging inheritors to establish companies, combining this with local employment and income-growth work, and exploring ways to integrate culture and tourism; and making use of public cultural facilities to hold lectures and exhibitions, increasing publicity and popularization.
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)
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