Peintures tibétaines de la vie de sTon-pa-gçen-rab

Among its collections of Tibetan art, the Musée Guimet in Paris possesses a series of ten thankas (MA 121-130) illustrating the life of the Buddha of the Bon religion, sTon-pa-gçen-rab. The series, which must originally have consisted of twelve paintings (nos. 7 and 8 are missing), was acquired by General H. d'Ollone during his mission to China and Tibet in 1906 to 1909, probably in April 1 908 when he stayed for some weeks in Song-pan-t'ing, a small town in the wertern part of China, situated approximately 33' N and 103' 30" E, to the north of Chengdu. Judging from their style, the thankas would seem to date from the 18th or 19th century. They faithfully illustrate, down to the smallest detail, the life of sTon-pa-gçen-rab as narrated in the 14th century, twelve- volume version of his biography, the gZi-brjid. However, as the thankas have no inscriptions, a careful reading of the entire twelve-volume text has been necessary in order to identify each scene and the numerous figures which give extraordinary life and movement to the paintings. Each thanka has been analysed by dividing it into sections (numbered 1,2,3, etc.), each section forming a separate scene or narrative unit. Within each section, individual figures, buildings or other details of interest have been provided with letters (A, B, C, etc.). Thus the commentary is at the same time a brief summary of the gZi-brjid, to which the Table of Concordance provides the necessary references. Recently, two other series of thankas illustrating the same theme have come to light. One is in a private collection in West Germany, the other has been preserved in Tibet itself. Both series have inscriptions. It is also to be hoped that copies of a series of sixty printed thankas, likewise illustrating the life of sTon-pa-gçen-rab, of which the wood-blocks were previously available in the principality of Khro-bcu in rGya-rong, may have survived. The Bon religion poses numerous problems to the historian of religions, and its art remains practically unexplored. Hence these thankas provide a rare glimpse of a universe in which unfolds one of the least-known religious epics of Asia.Kvaerne Per. Peintures tibétaines de la vie de sTon-pa-gçen-rab. In: Arts asiatiques, tome 41, 1986. pp. 36-81