A History of Fine Art in India and Ceylon, from the Earliest Times to the Present Day c15.s3.t1.8

c15.s3.t1.8

The British Museum possesses a considerable collection of Tibetan banner-paintings on silk, mounted on rollers, kept partly in the Print Room, where the best of those brought by Col. Iggulden are preserved, and partly in the Ethnographical Department. Most of the pictures are distinctly Chinese in style, with little trace of Indian influence on the art, as distinguished from the subjects. But a few are more Indian than Chinese. One such is No. 1905/(5·20), 63 (measuring 2 feet 3 inches × 20 inches), with an embroidered border. The central figure is a seated Buddha of Indian style in the 'earth-touching' pose. The numerous minor figures in the scenes covering the field are, however, Chinese. An unpleasant Tantric Bodhisattva of little artistic value is depicted on No. 1905/(5·20), 57. The most characteristically Tibetan specimen, combining Indian with Chinese peculiarities, is No. 1905/(5·20), 62, which possesses considerable beauty as a scheme of colour, dark indigo blue predominating. The central figure is a horrible and repulsive Yama, or Death, wearing a garland of skulls. The field is mostly occupied by a series of scrolls in dark tints, of distinctively Tibetan form. In the upper section three small figures, a seated Buddha in Chinese costume, with on each side a Bodhisattva, or Tibetan Lama, wearing a tall, conical head-dress, are tolerably well executed. The painting does not look old, and its merit lies mainly in the colouring.