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This painting, unusual in size and composition, depicts deities from the text “Protector Deities of the 'Dur Rite” (’dur gsas lha srung) of Bon, Tibet’s indigenous religion. The iconography of the deities in the painting closely corresponds with this text, related to particular funerary rituals. These rites are required when an unnatural death, such as by violence, occurs. This is the only known painting of its kind thus far identified.
The text provides a likely context for the creation of this painting. It is said to have been a Bon r evealed treasure text (terma) discovered in a cave in Gyelrong in northeastern Tibet. Internal textual evidence, such as colophons within the same volume also reference the Gyelrong area and the Amdo region, as well as name persons active in the revival of the Bon tradition in Gyelong in the eighteenth century. Moreover, this ritual is not widely known outside of the area.
In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, Gyelrong was a flourishing center of the Bon religious tradition and artistic activity. Stylistically, the overall lightness of the color palette of this painting along with a dark blue sky that suddenly transitions to blank canvas and the subtle shading of the clouds and figures is consistent with paintings from Gyelong and nearby southern Amdo and northern Kham regions. Close looking rewards the viewer with many inventive and imaginative details such as figures clothed in vulture feathers, yak and tiger skins, but also rainbows, fire, and water, and wearing animals as hats. It is mainly in the Bon tradition that indigenous Tibetan animals and other aspects of the natural world are so prominently featured.
Bon Protector Deities of Funerary Rituals
OriginGyelrong, Amdo Region, Eastern Tibet
Date18th century
Dimensions14 × 55 1/8 in.
MediumPigments on cloth
Classification(s)
Credit LineRubin Museum of Art, Gift of Shelley and Donald Rubin
Object numberC2006.66.53
Himalayan Art Resources Number200014
DescriptionThe changing understanding of an object is an interesting part of its story. Scholar Samten
Karmay in his 2015 study Bonpo Painting of Protector Deities has re-identified this painting
since he first studied it in 2006 for the Rubin Museum Exhibition, "Bon: The Magic Word"
(https://rubinmuseum.org/events/exhibitions/bon-the-magic-word/).This painting, unusual in size and composition, depicts deities from the text “Protector Deities of the 'Dur Rite” (’dur gsas lha srung) of Bon, Tibet’s indigenous religion. The iconography of the deities in the painting closely corresponds with this text, related to particular funerary rituals. These rites are required when an unnatural death, such as by violence, occurs. This is the only known painting of its kind thus far identified.
The text provides a likely context for the creation of this painting. It is said to have been a Bon r evealed treasure text (terma) discovered in a cave in Gyelrong in northeastern Tibet. Internal textual evidence, such as colophons within the same volume also reference the Gyelrong area and the Amdo region, as well as name persons active in the revival of the Bon tradition in Gyelong in the eighteenth century. Moreover, this ritual is not widely known outside of the area.
In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, Gyelrong was a flourishing center of the Bon religious tradition and artistic activity. Stylistically, the overall lightness of the color palette of this painting along with a dark blue sky that suddenly transitions to blank canvas and the subtle shading of the clouds and figures is consistent with paintings from Gyelong and nearby southern Amdo and northern Kham regions. Close looking rewards the viewer with many inventive and imaginative details such as figures clothed in vulture feathers, yak and tiger skins, but also rainbows, fire, and water, and wearing animals as hats. It is mainly in the Bon tradition that indigenous Tibetan animals and other aspects of the natural world are so prominently featured.
19th century
19th century
15th century
19th century
18th - 19th century
15th century
19th century
18th century
18th century
late 18th or early 19th century
19th century