Himalayan Art Resources

Painting Set: Situ Panchen Painting Set Commissions

Situ Panchen Chokyi Jungne

Subjects & Topics:
- Description (below)
- Palpung Monastery Painting Style
- Palpung following a Karma Gardri Style for Lineage Paintings
- Minimalist Painting
- Masterworks
- Confusions
- Others...

Video: Situ Panchen Commissions & Palpung Painting Style

Situ Panchen Chokyi Jungne (1700-1774) was known for being a patron of the arts. In his autobiography there are several references to painting sets that he designed as well as painting sets he had commissioned. There are also some references to single compositions he created himself and gave away as gifts. These paintings were often of White Tara. It is also mentioned that another artist in Chokyi Jungne's employ would often do the colouring of the paintings after they were drawn by Situ himself. Although the most common subject of the paintings was a simple White Tara other 'white' deities were sometimes chosen such as White Manjushri, White Sarasvati and White Vajrasattva.

Attributed textually to Situ Panchen:
- Eight Mahasiddha Set, painted by Situ in the 1720s based on Jonang Taranata iconography
- Jataka: One Hundred Previous Lives of the Buddha, commissioned by Situ in 1726
- Six Ornaments & Two Excellent Ones, designed by Situ in 1730: Misc., Set I, Set II
- Eight Bodhisattva Set, traced in 1732 from the earlier work of Konchog Phende of E (16th century)
- Avadana Set, designed by Situ in 1733
- Twenty-seven Tantric Deities Set, commissioned by Situ in 1750
- Padmasambhava and Eight Manifestations, commissioned by Situ in 1769 and 1770

Not textually linked to Situ Panchen:
- Eighty-four Mahasiddha Set (no mention in Situ writings. Based on Jonang Taranata iconography)
- Shakyamuni Buddha & the Sixteen Arhats (no mention in Situ writings)
- Kings of Shambhala Set (no mention in Situ writings)
- Tai Situpa Incarnation Set (no mention in Situ writings)
- Masters of Kadam (no mention in Situ writings)
- Shakyamuni Buddha Life-story (no mention in Situ writings)
- Milarepa Life Story Set (no mention in Situ writings)
- Karma Kagyu Lineage Set
- Peaceful & Wrathful Deities
- Others...

Jeff Watt 4-2010 [updated 6-2017]

See the publication Patron And Painter, Situ Panchen and the Revival of the Encampment Style by David P. Jackson. Rubin Museum of Art, 2009.

(The images below are only a selection of examples from the links above).