Page 54 - Tibetan Thangka Painting Methodsand Mat, Jackson

Iconometric Theory iconometry sometimes also made use of the cubit
(gru mo) as a unit of measure or proportion, and this
Tibetan authorities on sacred art generally divided the was the distance from the elbow to the knuckles of a
deities of the pantheon into less than a dozen icono- closed fist (equal to two large units).
metric classes. There was, however, no agreement as to
the exact number of these. Bu-ston Rin-chen-grub The Main Proportional Classes
(1290-1364) and the Eighth Karma-pa Mi-bskyod-rdo-rje
(1507-1554) are said to have propounded systems Probably the most influential treatise written on
containing eleven main classes. 4 'Phreng-kha-ba (16th proportions by a Tibetan was the Sku gzugs kyi cha
century) and the more recent Mi-pham-rgya-mtsho tshad kyi rab tu byed pa yid bzhin nor bu of Sman-
(1846-1912) reduced the number of basic classes in thang-pa Sman-bla-don-grub (fl. 15th century).1
their systems to five,S while Klong-rdol-bla-ma (b.1719) Although the work itself has not been accessible in
kept the number to a bare minimum of four. 6 In the recent years, it was one of the main sources for two
following pages we will describe the basic system of short passages on iconometry by the 18th-century
iconometry that our main informants accepted. This scholar and painter Zhu-chen Tshul-khrims-rin-chen. In
system is said to derive from the practice of the great these passages we find a description of what appears to
15th-century artist Sman-thang-pa Sman-bla-don-grub, have been the six major proportional classes (thig chen)
and it consists of six main classes of proportions, five of Sman-thang-pa. 8
for deities and one for humans.
1) Buddhas, 125 sor (= 10 thai mo of 12~ sor
Units of Measurement each).
2) Peaceful bodhisattvas, 120 sor (= 10 thai mo
The study of iconometry presupposes, to begin with, of 12 sor each).
a knowledge of the terms for units of measure. The 3) Goddesses, 108 sor (= 9 thai mo).
same specialized terminology was used by all Tibetan 4) Tall wrathful figures, such as the bodhisattva
writers on iconometry. In brief, there were two main Vajrapar:li, 96 sor (= 8 thai mo).
units of measure: small units (cha chung) and large units 5) Short wrathful figures, 72 sor (= 6 thai mo,
(cha chen). Except in one special proportional class although some texts specify 5 thai mo).
there were always twelve small units to every large 6) Humans, including some Sravakas (disciples
unit. The relationship between the two was thus the of the Buddha) and Pratyekabuddhas, 96 sor
same as inches to feet, but it is important to realize that tall (= 4 cubits, although the canonical texts
unlike inches and feet the large and small units had no specify a height of 3~ cubits).
absolute values. They were merely used to indicate the
proportional relationships within each sacred image, be In the first three classes the height of the figure
that image one hundred feet tall or the size of a grain of equals the arm span, and the measure of the upper half
rice. of the body equals that of the lower half. But in the case
of the wrathful figures and humans such balanced
• 12 sor=1 cha chen·[zhal tshad]- proportions are not present to the same extent.
1 sor [cha chung] Some other iconographical systems had more
+-11
"major classes," due to the subdividing of the above
I I
classes and the addition of a few rare types. However,
• 1 sor • except for a few minor additions or differences, the
1<-1 leg -r;;~I~ iconometric system of our Central Tibetan informants
rkang pa nas I I was as outlined above. It may be useful to describe here
these six classes in more detail according to a parallel
Scale of the units of measurement.
iconometric tradition that was followed by Legdrup
Gyatsho of Phen-yul Nalendra. The following descrip-
The terminology for measures was a little compli- tion of the proportions is drawn mainly from the Gate-
cated because many synonyms existed for the two main way to the Temple by the Venerable Chogay Trichen
units of measure. Most of the terms are anthropometric and represents a modern tradition descending from
in origin. The larger unit (cha chen) was also called Sman-thang-pa. 9
"face measure" (zhal tshad) or "face" (zhal; gdong),
"span" (mtho, meaning the distance from the end of
the extended thumb to the tip of the middle finger), and 1) Buddhas
"palm" (thai mo; mthil, the length of the palm and
fingers of the hand). The smaller unit (cha chung or This first major class included the basic propor-
cha phran) was more commonly referred to as a "finger- tions of Buddhas, whether manifest in the world as
width" (sor mo, or if abbreviated, sor). One-fourth of a "emanation-bodies" (nirmal!akaya) such as Sakyamuni,
sor mo was called a "leg" (rkang pa), and a half of that or in the pure realms as "enjoyment-bodies" (sambhoga-
was termed a "grain" (nas). In addition, Buddhist kaya) such as Vairocana and the other Tathagatas of

50 SKETCHING AND THE THEORY OF ICONOMETRY