Himalayan Art Resources

Item: Chart

རེའུ་མིག། བྲིས་ཐང་སྣ་ཚོགས། 表格(绘画种类)
(item no. 200035)
Origin Location Naxi
Lineages Bon
Material Ground Mineral Pigment on Cotton
Collection Rubin Museum of Art
Catalogue # acc.# P1999.25.4
Notes about the Central Figure

Classification: Object/Concept

Interpretation / Description

Protection Chart: containing various auspicious elements.

At the top are the Five Transcendent Enlightened Ones, below that, in a row, are the consonants of the tibetan alphabet. Placed centrally is the trunk of a tree having sprung from the mouth of a yellow spotted frog, his back adorned with a magic square. From the mouth, rising upward, a yellow and black naga twists around the trunk and at the top with a human upper torso, arms and head pays reverence to a red coloured Garuda (king of birds) standing on a lotus. The orange letters A, NGA and PA adorn the tree.

At the left side is a row of thirteen arrows with the tips facing downward. At the right side are thirteen spears facing upward. At the four corners are the four Bon animals of the directions, a snow lion, dragon, yak and tiger. Numerous symbols and figures fill the fore and background along with the letters representing the five elements, body, speech, mind and the like.

Lee Hartline & Jeff Watt 2-2000

Related Items
Thematic Sets
Bon: Artworks (All)
Bon: Chart
Collection of Rubin Museum of Art: Painting Gallery 9
Bon: Miscellaneous
Subject: Trees in Art Page
Exhibition: Bon, The Magic Word (RMA 2007)
Collection of RMA: Best of Collection 3
Collection of Rubin Museum of Art: Bon Artworks
Region, China: Naxi Cultural Group
Bon: Ritual Objects