TIBET, 18TH CENTURY

The present work depicting Buddha Shakyamuni belongs to a specific Himalayan painting style designed to amplify the merit accrued by both the artist and the worshiper. Often termed as "repeated background-figure paintings," these works prominently feature the recurrent depiction of the same figure across vertical registers. In this case, the historical Buddha Shakyamuni is the reiterated focal point. Tibetan Buddhist tradition holds that by increasing the number of icons in a single painting, the artist's merit in creating the image grows. Moreover, this painting bestows benefits upon the worshiper: the merit gained from a single prostration is multiplied by the icon’s count.
Seated in the adamantine posture of vajraparyankasana, the Buddha evokes the moment of his enlightenment beneath the Bodhi tree in Bodhgaya. Accompanying him at the center are two smaller figures, his primary disciples Shariputra and Maudgalyayana. The Buddha's right hand touches the ground in an earth-touching gesture, beckoning the earth to bear witness to the truth of his attainment. His elongated earlobes, weighed down by the earrings of his past princely life, symbolize his renunciation of worldly attachments.
The exquisite patchwork robes adorning the central Buddha are emblematic of the New Menri painting style that gained popularity in Central Tibet during the eighteenth century. This painting stands out due to its fusion of two styles of painting within the New Menri school— the polychrome style and the "gold on red ground" technique. Red ground paintings gained prominence as a distinctive artistic form during the seventeenth century, notably in Central Tibet, owing to the patronage of the Great Fifth Dalai Lama. The distinct execution divergence between the subject and the background generates a striking visual contrast, creating an impression that the background forms a spatial niche where the central figure occupies.