Abstract: Trengkawa #3
Sichuan Abstracts | Trengkawa SketchbookAbstract #3: The Artist Trengkawa & Recently Identified Paintings
Sichuan University, October 26th, 2026
The 16th century artist known as Trengkawa has been of some interest in the last 10 to 15 years because of an artist's sketchbook with his name identified on the last page. He is also mentioned in many biographies of the 16th century and acknowledged as a highly respected painter following the Menla Dondrub tradition known as the Menri style of painting.
Up until recently this artist, Trengkawa, has been known solely because of this sketchbook and biographical references, however in the past number of months of 2026, seven paintings have now been identified as belonging to the hand of Trengkawa. This discovery of his paintings is based on comparing very carefully the actual drawings, brushwork, and comparison of bodily proportions (head, torso, arms, and hands) from Trengkawa's sketchbook with actual available paintings of known 16th century Menri style paintings.
Some of these compositions are somewhat famous such as the gold ground Chaturbhuja Avalokiteshvara painting from the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, the Sakya Lotsawa Jampai Dorje, a Sakya Hierarch, in the Rubin Museum collection, the gold ground Hevajra painting, again from the Rubin Museum of Art and a private collection Vaishravana Riding a Horse painting surrounded by many, many, secondary figures and wealth deities. Some consider this last composition to be the very best example of a Trengkawa painting based on his sketchbook.
This subject of sketchbook identification is very important because it puts an emphasis on the importance of artist sketchbooks, of course, where they are available, and where there is an identified artist. It is an under utilized area of research where an artist's sketchbook can be used going forward into the future to help identify potential masterwork paintings from site locations, museums, or private collections around the world.
Study Topics:
- Literary History
- Sketchbook
- Paintings
- Characteristics
Jeff Watt, 10-2026
(The images below are only a selection of examples from the links above).
