Skip to main content
Beginning in the fifteenth century the indigenous Tibetan painting traditions of Menri and Khyenri—named after their Tibetan founders, Menla Dundrup and Khyentse Chenmo respectively— incorporated Chinese landscape elements into an otherwise dominant Newar painting tradition. Here figures are depicted following Indo-Nepalese models and are robed in bright reds and oranges. They are symmetrically placed in a simple, thickly painted blue-green landscape of Chinese inspiration. However, the landscape is not designed to suggest spacial depth, but instead mountains and clouds are densely stacked on top of one another as framing devices for the figures.
Third Pawo Rinpoche, Tsuklak Gyatso (1568-1630) with his Handprints and Footprints
OriginTibet
Dateearly to mid-17th century
Dimensions25 × 18 3/8 in. (estimated)
MediumPigments on cloth
Classification(s)
Credit LineRubin Museum of Art, Gift of Shelley and Donald Rubin
Object numberC2006.66.29
Himalayan Art Resources Number825
DescriptionTsuklak Gyatso (1567–1633) was the Third Pawo Rinpoche, an important and high-ranking teacher of the Karma Kagyu School of Tibetan Buddhism. He is represented in this painting not only by the central figure but also by his handprints and footprints. The size and unevenness of the handprints suggest that they are based on actual prints made by the Third Pawo, helping to confirm that this painting dates to his lifetime. The handprints and footprints of a master are considered to be a portable form of transmitted blessing, akin to a touch relic. They could even stand in for the teacher in his absence.Beginning in the fifteenth century the indigenous Tibetan painting traditions of Menri and Khyenri—named after their Tibetan founders, Menla Dundrup and Khyentse Chenmo respectively— incorporated Chinese landscape elements into an otherwise dominant Newar painting tradition. Here figures are depicted following Indo-Nepalese models and are robed in bright reds and oranges. They are symmetrically placed in a simple, thickly painted blue-green landscape of Chinese inspiration. However, the landscape is not designed to suggest spacial depth, but instead mountains and clouds are densely stacked on top of one another as framing devices for the figures.
Not on view
late 12th-early 13th century
19th century
late 18th – early 19th century
19th century
Dated by inscription, 1667
17th - 18th century
late 18th century, ca. 1760s
16th century
18th - 19th century
1736–1795