“Dieux et démons de l’Himâlaya: Art du Bouddhisme lamaïque” Grand Palais, Paris, 25 March-27 June 1977; and Haus der Kunst, Munich, 5 August-16 October 1977.

Jeannine Auboyer and Gilles Béguin, Dieux et démons de l'Himâlaya: Art du Bouddhisme lamaïque, Paris, 1977, cat. no. 276.

David Jackson, A History of Tibetan Painting: The Great Tibetan Painters and Their Traditions, Wein, 1996, p. 303, fig. 160, p. 313, pl. 63.

Amy Heller, Tibetan Art: Tracing the Development of Spritual Ideals and Art in Tibet, Milan, 1999, cat. no 114.

David Jackson, The Place of Provenance: Regional Styles in Tibetan Painting, New York, 2012, p. 107, fig. 5.22.

This rare and important thangka documents episodes in the life of Ngor Abbot Rinchen Migyur Gyaltsen (b. 1717) relating to his time at Derge in Kham, see Amy Heller, Tibetan Art: Tracing the Development of Spiritual Ideals and Art in Tibet, Milan, 1999, p. 198. The Sakya monastery of Ngor in central Tibet had strong ties with the Eastern kingdom of Derge, where Derge Parkhang, the renowned sutra-printing temple, is located.

At the upper left the abbot and two hierarchs instruct, while artists carve printing blocks: five thangka hang on the wall behind. In a large monastery complex to the upper right monks gather at the feet of the master: to the left the master receives tributes of khatta, fine silks, furs, coral and sutras from monks and laity: beneath to the right the eminent Khampa scholar and artist Shuchen Tshultrim Rinchen (1697-1744), supervises the Lhaga brothers and their assistants while painting a set of thangka for Rinchen Gyaltsen depicting the one hundred former lives of Buddha Shakyamuni, as described in the epic poem "The Wish-fulfilling Tree", by the eleventh century Kashmiri master Kshemendra; see David Jackson, A History of Tibetan Painting: The Great Tibetan Painters and Their Traditions, Wien, 1996, p. 303, fig. 160.

Mo🏅re tributes are received in another monastery complex lower left, where monks are seen reading texts and sculpting a statue of Buddha. The master teaches an assembly of monks in a 🐽tented encampment to the lower right.

The thangka is of great historical importance in the depiction of artistic production in Derge in the eighteenth century: Jackson speculates that the painting may have been created by the circle of Shuchen Tshultrim Rinchen, and the inscriptions by the master himself, see David Jackson, The Place of Provenance: Regional Styles in Tibetan Painting, New York, 2012, p. 106.

Multiple gold inscriptions cover the current thangka, indicating the sce🐭nes presented. Clockwise from upper left, the Tibetan may be translated as follows:

Top left: The monastic household of Luding, a place of upbringing that gave rise to a rosary of sala, the learned ones among whom Sharchen [Migyur Gyaltsen, the 37th abbot of Ngor Monastery] was born; a delightful garden where he encountered innumerable demeanours of bodhisattva, the way of accomplishing the benefit of others.

Right: The way of depicting the splendid hundred and eight Avadana stories was first paved by Tsultrim Rinchen [i.e. Zhuchen Tsultrim Rinchen Gyaltsen (1697–1774)] Lhaga, together with his siblings and disciples, whose finger tips having turned into a dramatic performance [showed] the manner of painting.

Center: The glorious and excellent Rinchen Migyur Gyaltsen [of] Ewam [Monastery], where he is worshipped and bestowed with a sacred printed [edition]; an inspiring material display of the one hundred and eight foliage of words of the Conqueror’s Wish-fulfilling Tree.

Bottom right: Arriving near the guests who participate in the maiden’s lush green summer banquet, (…) the benefactor (…) together with the abundance and wealth of the four excellences  (…)

Bottom left: (…) the dharma king, Amdo and Kham (…) paid respect. (…) monastic robe (…) nephew and spouse (…)