Historical Painting Techniques, Materials, and Studio Practice

Figure 5. Detail IR-reflectogram from Shakyamuni
and the Eighteen Arhats, showing
a color code written in Chinese on an Arhat's
back. Los Angeles County Museum of Art,
Los Angeles (M. 83. 105. 18}.
Shakyamuni and the Eighteen Arhats, owned by LACMA and thought to be
an eighteenth-century work from the Kham region, has color codes on the
ground layer written in Chinese. Unlike the brilliant white magnesite ground
found in the Shambhala paintings, this ground is buff-colored and composed
of hydrocerussite and kaolinite. Two color-code systems are employed. The
first is numerical: numbers represent specific colors. The second uses Chinese
color names or idioms. Under the dark blue pigment of a begging bowl, IRR
revealed the Chinese character for the number seven. The pigment was identified
by PLM and FTIR as azurite. On an Arhat's back, IRR revealed the
Chinese character for hulled rice (Fig. 5). Examination of a dispersed pigment
slide revealed orpiment mixed with a small amount of red lead. A character
not yet translated was uncovered on several deep red colored areas. Examination
of a dispersed pigment slide revealed vermilion mixed with a small
amount of red lead.
Another LACMA painting with Chinese color codes is Palden Remati and
Her Retinue, accepted as originating from the Gelukpa monastery in Central
Tibet, 1800-1850 C.E. This painting employs the two color-code systems
described earlier with similar notations. The Chinese numbers for three and
seven were used to denote a light blue color. This color has yet to be sampled.
Presumably "seven" represents azurite and "three" represents the second addition
of a white pigment.
Two BMFA paintings displaying Chinese color codes come from a set of five
entitled Stories from the Life of Buddha. The set is thought to be eighteenthcentury
Tibetan. Again, evidence of the two color-code systems described
earlier as well as notations fo r derivative colors were found on these paintings.
The Chinese numbers for two and six are used to denote a light green. This
color has yet to be sampled. Presumably "six" represents malachite and "two"
the first addition of a white pigment.
Conclusion
Since thangka painting is a tradition passed on from master to apprentice,
determining palette and deciphering color-code systems may prove to be
helpful in the identification of specific workshops or painting lineages. The
color-code system used on the BMFA Shambhala paintings has several distinctive
traits. These include an additional character kya (skya) for whitish
tints (Fig. 3) and the additional characters na ga (nag) for darker tints. The
artist of the painting A Mahasiddha and Taklungpa Lamas indicated whitish
tints with a kya subjoined to the root notation (Fig. 4). This system for
distinguishing derivative colors is similar to one still practiced by some modern
Tibetan thangka painters. The paintings with color codes in Chinese
script pose many questions which are beyond the scope of this paper. In terms
of the ethnic background of the creators of these works, one can only speculate.
Perhaps the painters were Chinese, since a native Tibetan speaker would
be unlikely to write such "private" communications in a fo reign script. On
the other hand, a bilingual Tibetan might use Chinese characters to communicate
with Chinese apprentices or coworkers. Likewise, one can only
speculate on whether such paintings were produced in Tibet or China. In
order to answer these questions, more infrared data and pigment analyses need
to be compiled from thangkas of known Tibetan as well as Chinese origin.
Acknowledgments
The authors are indebted to the following people at the Museum of Fine Arts,
Boston: Rhona MacBeth, John Robbe, Darielle Mason, Anne Morse, Wu Tung, Arthur
Beale, and John Elwood. The authors wish to thank the staff at the Los Angeles
County Museum of Art for their generous support, particularly Victoria Blyth-Hill
and John Twilley. For his analytical contributions, the authors are grateful to Arie
Wallert of the Getty Conservation Institute. The authors wish to thank the following
Lamas and thangka painters for their help in deciphering color codes: Archung Lama
and Gega Lama of Kathmandu, Nepal; Megmar, Alexander Kocharov, and Chating
Jamyang Lama of Dharamsala, India. For his enthusiasm, support and analytical con-
Duffy and Elgar 83