Page 95 - Tibetan Thangka Painting Methodsand Mat, Jackson

Seven
Colour

The thangka painter's palette consisted mainly of paints colours. Among the several colour theories current
derived from the mineral pigments described in the among Tibetan painters during the long history of
previous chapter. Tibetan artists also made some of their Tibetan art, one was the system described by the 15th-
paints by mixing the pigments with organic dyes and century scholar Bo-dong P~-chen.2 In this system
lakes such as indigo and lac dye. Important mixtures of there were only five basic colours (rtsa ba'i mdog).
this type included the blending of each of these two All other colours were said to derive from these:
dyes with white. But since the dyes and lakes were
mainly used during the shading and outlining stages 1) white (dkar)
that followed the initial application of colours, a 2) red (dmar)
detailed description of them and their uses will have to 3) blue (sngo)
wait until Chapters IO and 11. 4) yellow (ser)
5) black (nag)

Another system, which is known to us through
Basic Pigment Colours the much later writings of Sum-pa mkhan-po, Rong-tha
and Mi-pham-rgya-mtsho, held that there were eight
The painter Legdrup Gyatsho specifically mentioned main colours: seven father colours (pha bdun) and one
sixteen basic pigment colours from which he derived mother colour (ma). 3 The "seven fathers" were:
his main range of painting colours and mixtures:
1) deep blue (mthing)
4 blues (deep, medium, light and very light) 2) green (ljang)
4 greens (deep, medium, light and very light) 3) vermilion (mtshal)
2 reds (one deeper, the other lighter and more 4) minium orange (li =li khri)
intense) 5) lac-dye maroon (skag)
2 oranges (one deeper, the other lighter) 6) orpiment yellow (ba bla)
I yellow 7) indigo (rams)
I yellow ochre
1 white The "mother" colour was white (ka rag).
1 black
Obviously this system was tied to artistic practice
This artist made many of his paints simply by since all but one or two of the eight "colours" men·
mixing the above pigments with the size binder. tioned were actually the names of certain pigments or
However, like all Tibetan painters he also made a dyes, and were not colours per se. Here the colours
number of important shades by mixing these main corresponding to the six pigments were blue, green, red,
colours with white and with each other. He had learned orange, yellow, white, and the two dye colours were
how to prepare these mixtures from his teacher and maroon and dark blue. The various colours resulting
from his own practical experience. from the mixture of a "father" and a "mother" could be
Although most of the pigments were compatible called their "sons" (bu). For example, the "father" blue
with each other, a few could not be mixed with good (mthing) when mixed with the "mother" white
results. For instance, Sum-pa mkhan-po and Mi-pham- produced the "son" light blue (sngo skya). If white
rgya-mtsho mentioned that orpiment and green should was ac1ded in greater proportions a "son" of even lighter
not be mixed or come into contact with one another. blue (sngo se) was produced. In his text Sum-pa mkhan-
They also stated that a little vermilion can darken and po (and following him, Mi-pham-rgya-mtsho) went on to
spoil the orange colour of minium.! describe a total of fourteen "sons":4

"sons of green" (ljang gi bu):
Colour Theories light green (ljang skya)
whitish green (ljang se)~
The mixing of colours (tshan; tshas gzhi; tshan mdog) "sons of minium orange" (li yi bu):
also had a theoretical side, and Tibetan writers on art whitish orange (li skya) = white + minium
gave different accounts of the basic and derivative orange

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