Bodhisattva Painting Set: Konchog Pende of E
A re-construction of a nine painting set depicting the Eight Great Bodhisattvas. All of these paintings are based on an earlier set said to have been painted by Konchog Pende of E (Central Tibet) in the mid to late 16th century. In 1732 Situ Panchen Chokyi Jungne asked an artist to trace a copy of the earlier works and then had a set painted based on the tracings. It is likely that all of the partial sets listed here are derived either from the set originating from Konchog Pende or from the copy made by Situ Panchen in the 18th century.
In the Tibetan artistic traditions this style of painting is called 'gya-lug' or Chinese style. The individual depictions of the bodhisattvas are non-iconic and likely based on the narrative stories of the bodhisattvas as found in the Mahayana Sutra literature along with the imagination and artistic tradition of the original artist that created the works.
The central painting of the set has not yet been identified and the specific central subject is unknown, however it is likely to be Amitabha or Shakyamuni Buddha. It is even possible that there was no central painting. In Tibetan art the Eight Bodhisattvas are more often depicted surrounding Amitabha Buddha placed in the setting of the Sukhavati Paradise. The collating of the various sets is only tentative, not definitive.