Tibetan Kuangzhiwuyanliao Making Craftsmanship
01 · Historical Records
Relying on their unique property of remaining unchanged for a thousand years, the Tibetan-Buddhist pigments have works painted with these materials spread throughout temples and ancient buildings across Tibet represented by the Potala Palace and the ruins of the Guge Kingdom; although weathered by wind, sun, and the erosion of time for a thousand years, they can still be preserved intact.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
In Tibet, the making and application of mineral and plant painting pigments has a long history of more than two thousand years. Tibetan-Buddhist mineral and plant pigments are brilliant and rich in color and do not fade; plant pigments have pure color, are lightfast and heat-resistant, and are suitable for temple murals, Buddha statues, and temple and house decoration, especially suitable for house pattern decoration exposed outdoors for long periods, occupying an extremely important position in Tibet. Historically, the processing technology of Tibetan-Buddhist mineral and plant painting pigments was mainly distributed in Lhasa, Shigatse, Qamdo, and Shannan, and was mostly transmitted in the form of murals and thangka painters—individuals, families, or painter organizations—processing and making them themselves. But for historical reasons, since the mid-20th century basically no one has made or used these pigments, leaving this unique production process facing the danger of being lost. Preparing one's own pigments is the consistent practice of Tibetan painters: mineral materials are procured locally on the snowy plateau, plant color materials are collected according to the season, and processing is mostly completed by the painter individually, by the family, or by a painter organization, without recourse to outside help. This self-production and self-use method allows the colors of murals to remain unchanged together with the buildings under the plateau's sunlight and temperature differences, and also makes the pigments a kind of private experience between painters and painting schools.
Gathering and grinding minerals
Locally gathered stones are selected, crushed, ground and washed to produce the base colours of murals and thangkas.
Boiling plant dyes
Plant dyes are pure in hue and stable in light and heat, suited to murals, statues and to outdoor decorative painting on temple buildings.
The self-supplied personal tradition
Pigments were made by individual painters, families or painter guilds themselves, so methods varied by lineage; by the mid twentieth century few still made or used them.
Colour for thangka painting
Because mineral and plant colours stay rich and unfaded under strong plateau light, layered thangka colour retains its saturation.
Awang Jinmei and the Danba Raodan line
Born in Lhasa in 1957, Awang Jinmei learned the craft from Danba Raodan and co-authored works on Tibetan art history and dictionaries of Sino-Tibetan art terms.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
Since ancient times, the pigments used in Tibetan painting have been extracted from local mineral and plant sources on the snowy plateau. Today the center of pigment making is in Lhasa; the Tibetan traditional mineral and plant painting pigment studio hosted by Ngawang Jigme is located at Tibet University and has become a fixed place for cultivating inheritors; the pigments produced under his direction are also used for mural restoration at the Potala Palace and the painting of high-quality thangkas.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
Ngawang Jigme (from the official archive of the associated inheritor): Male, Tibetan ethnicity, born in April 1957, from Lhasa City, Tibet Autonomous Region. Representative inheritor of the fourth national-level batch of the Tibetan mineral and plant pigment-making craft, an item of intangible cultural heritage. Tibetan mineral and plant pigment-making technician. He learned and mastered the transmission history, production and processing techniques, and usage methods of Tibetan-Buddhist mineral and plant pigments from old artisans such as Denpa Rabten, and has persisted in practical making, becoming a practitioner who systematically masters the theory and production craft of traditional Tibetan-Buddhist pigments in Tibetan-inhabited areas. The Tibetan traditional mineral and plant pigment products produced under his direction have become the preferred pigments for the restoration of murals in cultural relics such as the Potala Palace and the painting of high-quality thangkas. He co-authored "A Brief History of Tibetan Art" and the "Tibetan-Chinese Art Dictionary," among others. Tibet University established the Tibetan traditional mineral and plant painting pigment studio hosted by him, which has cultivated numerous inheritors.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Awangjinmei 04-1927
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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