Historical Painting Techniques, Materials, and Studio Practice

ed lead and calcium carbonate. Historical references given by Jackson and
Jackson state that Tibetan painters did not use the natural mineral minium
(32). Instead, the synthetic lead tetroxide was imported from China, Nepal,
and India. Calcium carbonate was available in Tibet, particularly in Rinpung,
an area north of Lhasa and the seat of government in the sixteenth century
(33). In certain parts of Tibet, the cost of calcium carbonate was prohibitive
and less expensive white pigments were often used. It is unknown why calcium
carbonate was used to lighten the red lead. Other pigments were mixed
with kaolin. The choice may be due to the purity and color of the calcium
based pigment.
Summary of palette and color notations for the Shambhala set
Pigment identification determined that the notations on the ground layer
directly correlate to the pigments used, supporting the belief that these notations
were a guide for the artist(s) and apprentices. Pigments used for the
respective color notations are similar throughout, which is not surprising given
that the Shambhala paintings belong to one set.
The artist's palette for the Shambhala paintings from the Museum of Fine
Arts, Boston (BMFA) consists of pigments derived from minerals or synthetic
mineral analogues with the exception of two organic dyes, indigo and lac
(Table 1). The pigments identified in this investigation deviate little from the
modern-day painter's palette, as documented by Jackson and Jackson. The
pure blue and green colors were painted with coarsely ground, unadulterated
mineral pigments. All other colors were mixed with a white pigment either
to lighten the color or to achieve translucency. The orange color is unique
in that it was created by mixing calcium carbonate with red lead. In all other
cases kaolin clay was used, perhaps due to its availability and low cost.
All color notations are handwritten in Tibetan dbu. med script on the ground
layer. Some derivative colors are indicated by additional dbu. med characters
to the root notation. Figure 2 is an infrared reflectogram depicting such a
color notation. In this case, kya is added to the root notation ngo. The entire
notation, ngo kya (sngo skya), indicates a light blue color. The second character,
kya, is used to indicate whitening of the existing color, ngo. Another notation
found indicates the darkening of an existing color. The notation has the
additional characters na and ga, pronounced nag. These additions represent
the Tibetan word for black (nag po). In the case of jang nag jang nag), nag
indicates darkening of the existing green color, jang.
Comparative paintings
Comparative paintings from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and the Los
Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) were examined using infrared
reflectography (34, 35). Only a few pigment samples, however, were taken.
The LACMA nineteenth-century commemoration thangka for the bhimaratha
rite from Tashi Lhunpo monastery in central Tibet did not reveal any color
codes.
Figure 4. Detail IR-riiflectogram from A
Mahasiddha and Taklungpa Lamas, showing
the color code pkya on a landmass. Los
Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles
(M. 81.206. 12).
Another LACMA painting, A Mahasiddha and Taklungpa Lamas (ca. late 1700s)
from Taklung monastery in central Tibet, revealed color codes written in
Tibetan dbu. med script. Many of the notations were similar to those documented
on the BMFA Shambhala paintings. One distinct difference, however,
is in the manner of differentiating derivative colors. For a light green color,
fo r example, the notation used was pkya (spang skya). A subjoined kya is added
to the root character pa to indicate the addition of white (Fig. 4). Three other
paintings examined using IRR revealed color codes in dbu.med script. These
were Shakyamuni with Disciples and Dharmatala, two paintings from a set
of five at the BMFA accepted as sixteenth-century eastern Tibetan; and
LACMA's Portrait oj the Fifth Karmapa, accepted as originating in eighteenthcentury
Kham, a region of eastern Tibet.
82
Historical Painting Techniques, Materials, and Studio Practice