pigment with a water-soluble binding agent on textile, gold paint, image size 72 x 50.5 cm, full size with brocade mount 110 x 80 cm, (Hr)

We are grateful to Mr Uwe Niebuhr, BA, MA for his assistance with cataloguing this work.

The life of the historic Buddha Sakyamuni is a wide-spread theme in Tibetan painting. Over the course of time, an iconographic canon has been formed, in which up to twelve important stations in Sakyamuni’s life are represented in a thangka. The scenes chosen to be illustrated vary and additional narrative threads are often depicted in amongst large, chronologically ordered images of the main themes: I) Descent from heaven in Tusita II) Maya’s dream and the entry into the mother’s womb III) The birth of Buddha IV) Life in the royal palace V) The education of the young prince VI) The withdrawal from the world VII) Ascetism VIII) Temptation by Mara IX) The enlightenment X) Delivery of the teaching XI) The miraculous deeds XII) Entry into Parinirvana. The chosen iconography and composition of the visual elements of this thangka are widespread in Nepal today, although the artistic quality of the execution varies considerably. This Buddhist scroll painting depicting the life of Buddha Sakyamuni can be categorised as very well executed, since it is rare to find such a high-quality version of the theme.