Four Figure Composition 'Lamdre' Lineage Painting Sets
The artistic convention of placing four lineage teachers in each composition - register based - of a multi-painting set is found almost exclusively within the Sakya Tradition of Tibetan Buddhism and most popular in the 15th and 16th centuries. Register based compositions almost completely disappear after the 17th century with the introduction of the Floating Figure composition which remains popular right up to the present time. No examples of four figure composition lineage painting sets for the Nyingma, Kagyu or Gelug traditions could be found in the HAR database. Of course it is possible that other and perhaps earlier examples will be discovered that will change our understanding of the subject.