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The deep, flat blue and gray hues suggest this painting might be from southern Amdo or northern Kham Province, where the Bon religion flourished in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
Takla Membar
OriginTibet
Date19th century
Dimensions40 1/4 × 27 1/2 in.
MediumPigments on cloth
Classification(s)
Credit LineRubin Museum of Art
Object numberC2005.4.4
Himalayan Art Resources Number65398
Project Himalayan Arthttps://projecthimalayanart.rubinmuseum.org/related/takla-membar/
DescriptionTakla Membar, the Flaming Tiger-God, is an important deity of Bon, a religion indigenous to Tibet. Although his primary role is that of a meditational deity, Takla Membar is also considered a doctrinal weapon because practitioners employ him in meditation against Buddhists whenever the Bon religion is suppressed. While Bon imagery draws heavily on Buddhist tantric imagery, unique iconographic features, such as the weapon of nine crossed swords, indicate that this is a Bon painting. Bon coexisted with Buddhism for centuries in some communities, and local painters created works of both religious traditions, thus drawing on the same visual vocabulary.The deep, flat blue and gray hues suggest this painting might be from southern Amdo or northern Kham Province, where the Bon religion flourished in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
Not on view
19th century
19th century
20th century
19th century
15th century
18th century
19th century
ca. 17th century
1403-1424
Dated by inscription 1842
early 20th century
12th-13th century