Page 96 - Tibetan Thangka Painting Methodsand Mat, Jackson

yellowish orange (Ii ser) = orpimenJ: yellow + white + thin minium paint (li chu) = pale yellow
minium orange (ser skya)
"sons of vermilion" (mtshal gyi bu): white + dilute vermilion (mtshal chu) = vermilion
pink (dmar skya) = white + vermilion in equal pink (mtshal skya)
amounts
flesh colour (mi sha) = vermilion + a larger white + vermilion pink = light flesh colour (sha
amount of white dkar)
"sons of orpiment yellow" (bla 'i bu):6 white + a larger proportion of vermilion pink =
creamy saffron (?) (ngar ma?j7 = more orpi- reddish flesh colour (sha dmar)
ment yellow, less minium orange and a small reddish flesh colour + indigo = the colour of an
quantity of white old person's flesh (rgan sha'i mdag), i.e. a
yellowish green (ljang ser) = orpiment yellow purplish flesh colour.
+ indigo reddish skin colour + orpiment = yellowish flesh
"sons of lac-dye maroon" (skag gi bu): colour (sha ser)
lung colour (gla kha)
pale mauve (?) (zi hung) lac-dye (maroonish) pink (na ras) + indigo = pale
"sons of indigo" (rams kyi bu): mauve (man kha)
liver colour (mchin kha) lac-dye pink + a larger proportion of indigo =
light indigo (rams se). bluish mauve (man sngan)
pale mauve (man kha) + pale yellow (ser skya:
white and dilute minium) = liver colour (mchin
kha)
In addition, there were two "older sisters" (sring ma), if white predominates in the above mixture
namely tea colour (ia kha) and smoke colour (dud kha), =whitish liver colour (mchin skya)
and also one "servant" - a mixture of vermilion and ink. liver colour + lac-dye = maroonish liver colour
Yet another theory of colours appeared in a (mchin smug)
recently compiled textbook for Tibetan schoolchildren
in India. 8 This system, like that of Bo-dong Pal).-chen white + ink black (snag) = ash gray (literally
mentioned above, speaks of five basic colours (rtsa ba'i "ash colour": thal kha)
mdag). However, it substituted green (liang) in the white +gray = whitish gray (thal dkar)
place of black (nag). Furthermore, within this system whitish gray + light blue (mthing skya) = bluish
there are mentioned the following groupings of "inter- gray (thal sngan)
mediate branch colours" (yan lag gi tshan 'bring pa):
orange (Ii khri), flesh colour (sha kha), and pink (na ros); white + orpiment = bone colour (rus kha)
pale mauve (?) (man kha), smoke colour (dud kha), and white + vermilion pink + yellow (ser pa), the latter
tea colour (ia kha);9 dark maroon (smug pa), bone two colours in equal proportions = ochre-y
colour (rus kha), and deep blue-green (g.yu kha, the yellow (ngang pal
colour of old Tibetan turquoise). ochre-y yellow + minium = golden colour (gser
One of the best and most detailed accounts of 'dra)
colours and their combinations is to be found in the vermilion pink + orpiment + ink black added to
writings of Rong-tha Blo-bzang-dam-chos-rgya-mtsho. 10 white = tea colour (ia kha)
As mentioned above, he was one of the scholars who when vermilion predominates in the above mixture
adhered to a system of seven "father" colours and one = reddish tea colour (ia dmar)
"mother". His actual description of colour mixing, likewise the appropriate shade results when the
however, did not follow the system of Sum-pa and Mi- other colours in the mixture predominate.
pham in every detail, and happily it was even more
exhaustive. His account is particularly valuable because indigo + orpiment = compounded green (sbyar
it helps to establish the values of some of the rarer terms liang)
for colours that occur in other texts on art. tea colour + compounded green = greenish tea
Rong-tha listed the following combinations: colour (ja liang)
reddish tea colour + ink black = smoke colour
white + a little watery paint of azurite blue (dud kha)
(mthing chu) = white milk colour ('a dkar) smoke colour + light blue (snga skya) -= bluish
white + more of the above blue = bluish milk smoke colour (dud sngan)
colour ('a sngan) vermilion + ink black + lac dye = a dark red
(dmar nag) resemblin,g sandalwood
white + a little thin light green paint from white + lac dye = maroonish pink (na ros), an
malachite (spang chu) = milk colour ('0 kha) excellent pink (dmar skya)
white + more of the same green = greenish milk green (liang = compounded green?) + white (dkar)
colour ('a liang) = yellowish green (ser liang)

92 COLOUR