[Auto-generated transcript. Edits may have been applied for clarity.] So welcome everyone to the fourth talk in the third series of our podcast.
Some of the honour Honouring to Bet seminar.
This is the last talk for Hilary term, but we have another full talks coming up in Trinity term and you can keep up to date by checking the website.
All our talks are published as video podcasts, they will be freely available from our website at Wolfson College,
from the Oxford University podcast, pages from Apple Podcasts and from other sites too.
Since we are recording, please try not to interrupt during the talk.
However, the discussion periods after the talks will not be podcasts and are open to everyone.
So please feel free to express yourselves and ask questions then.
So today we are, uh, we are really delighted to welcome Doctor Christian Meechan.
It's who is widely respected as one of the major contemporary scholars of Tibetan religious art.
Christine Newton is David L Snell, Grove senior lecturer in Tibetan Buddhist Art at the Department of the history of Art and
archaeology at the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London.
He began his studies in Vienna at the Institute of Tibetan and Buddhist Studies, with a focus on art historical subjects.
He went on to complete his PhD there as well. Before joining psoas.
In 2014, he was senior curator at the Rubin Museum of Art in New York.
He's also held academic post at Stanford, at Berkeley, and at Berlin.
His research focuses on the Buddhist art of India and Tibet,
within which his primary research areas of early Buddhist art during and after the crisis on the period.
An early Tibetan Buddhist art from seventh to 15th centuries within its wider context.
Much of his research is based on extensive field research and in-situ documentation.
Since 2012, he's been leading a research project on Tibetan Buddhist monastery collections,
today documenting and assessing monastery collections in Mustang and Ladakh.
So, Christian, thank you very much indeed for taking the time to come and talk to us.
And, uh, over to you. Yeah.
Thanks for having me. I'm glad that I have the chance to present, uh, within this series.
Um, uh, but some of, uh, it's not something I wrote about much or at all.
Uh, partially because it's didn't just get there,
but partially also because I think when I was considering doing something about the depictions of taboo,
uh, which you will see in the talk, uh, I didn't actually know enough about it.
Uh, and I think it needs, uh, like, cooperation between an art historian and the scholar, uh,
of the texts that, uh, to actually do something with that material which is very fragmentary, as you will see.
Uh, so I'm purely going at that topic from a visual perspective.
Uh, up to the, uh, 15th century, uh, to see how the image of Batman, some of, uh, evolved.
And of course, uh, we are all aware that.
But with some movies everywhere. If you visit the monument today, uh, this is a picture of the, um, circling, uh.
Probably late 12th century, but in the 70s it's an image of putting on of a that was added to the iconographic program of the temple,
along with the other figures that sit there, and that has no actual relationship to the program around it.
So it's a clear edition.
Uh, even when the, uh, temple and the image have been left to date to assemble this lifetime, as in the case of Logan in, uh, uh, Mustang.
Uh, the age of the sculpture is, of course, not established.
In case of logic, how we know that its place mentioned in the payment cut then discovered by were again linked.
But uh. And so. They at least, uh, that reference dates at least to the 14th century.
Uh, and the legend has it that Duke of was founded before the summit itself.
And, of course, that's what the Mustang is proud of.
And that's what the belief the image dates to.
Uh, but as it appears today, it is very clear that that, uh, particular image, uh, has last been restored, uh, probably even after that.
But there's a recorded restoration.
Of, uh, the mid 19th century, because we have a document from time about an artist and his works called Burn Satan and their restoration is recorded.
I think it could be made here with another work of his, uh,
the Badmus hamburger in the comic parlours that is part of a triad that is possessed there.
Uh, so that would be that triad, and that triad is specifically mentioned as well in that, uh, document.
Then of course, we know that that umbrella is also located everywhere.
Through his prints, the traces that he left throughout the area,
and one of the earliest of those traces around which temple was built is probably this one,
the Hamburger Temple in Naco, that has a central build up with a footprint and of paintings all around to the extremely fragmentary.
But the idea to go back to the, I would say at least the 14th century, uh, and through that fairly early monument.
But the sculptures that I have within the these monuments are all laid the distance.
And I think more broadly we can say that, uh.
Yeah. In the case of the Luna image, uh, which I didn't even photograph properly.
Uh, it's, uh, probably an 18th century or a 19th century edition.
In the case of Lou Jacob, we have seen that it was, uh, restored in the mid-18th century.
And the age of the not good image is unclear, and it was definitely restored after the making.
So these images, despite being everywhere and probably not that old, probably the a lot of them were made really of the.
The Negro school was institutionalised in the 17th century.
Um. If we look at the earliest, uh, monuments in the western Himalayas would become scarce.
But my symbol is not there, and there is a lot of other things that are not there.
So if we look at the double main temple, uh.
Which is essentially the earliest monument that we have with the full iconographic program that goes back to the mid 11th century.
Uh, there is no trace of, uh, Budweiser hamburger.
And the same is still to, uh, true for the all the early age, uh, two monuments in Ladakh.
Uh, that date between the late 12th and up to the, uh, the 1230s.
So the early 13th century remain, I think the this is, uh, you know, an effect of Western Himalayan conservativism that is also recorded in,
uh, uh, the ordinances of West Tibetan kings against certain teachings.
Uh, but I don't think this is really the case.
Of course, we don't have much contemporaneous in Central Tibet, and most of that is documented, uh, but since destroyed.
But nothing of that or what has been documented speaks, uh, against.
Uh, they did the development in Central Tibet, in terms of what is depicted in that particular time,
is very much different from the development in West.
Stupid. What we do, however, have is.
Uh. Some depictions that relate to the teachings associated with Muslim Roma, and one of the most fascinating examples for that,
uh, is the depiction of the, uh, wedded to peaceful deities, uh, from the Greek god.
But and that is preserved in the library cave or from the library cave in Dunhuang and just the the five Buddhas with their concert,
uh, seated to their sides. Uh, we also have and that's something I've more recently published, uh, in the assembly of uh, uh,
50 A.D., but it's going to be done in a mandala in the main temple that apparently goes back,
or at least one of the takes that, uh, could be a potential source for this depiction in terms of the colouring of the secondary figures.
Uh, is it text that is attributed to a certain, uh, Lupin the.
My there. Uh, and that's, uh, T 2679.
And, uh, so we have this curious fact, despite the fact that the West Tibetan kings, uh.
Argued against, uh, tantric and organised and reasoned that here we have, uh.
Uh, depiction that, uh, maybe I'll be linked back to Padma Sambo.
And then what we also have is, uh, this particular, uh, mandala painting that, uh, ten cases sing.
Uh, uh, no. Uh, Tim Casey.
Now, uh, date to. The early 13th century AD, uh.
And yeah, as you can see from the date range, even the 12th century.
And she does that on the basis of an inscription on the back of the image.
And this is now the earliest that we not only have a teaching, but also a depiction of some of us.
So when we, uh, zoom in in the upper corners around, uh, the mandala, we have, uh, in the upper, uh,
left side, a depiction of Fatima Sambo, uh, on the upper right side may be, uh, biotin, uh, and then, uh.
Uh, Jim Casey thinks that.
Yeah, yeah. And, uh, if you believe that, uh, the Son of man.
Uh, also represented on, uh, the painting and give her the justification for the early date.
And if we look, uh.
And the depictions more closely will also notice that even one of the assemblies around the central Haruka has a central figure that likens,
but at some level, uh, in that particular, uh, painting.
So it's this would be an early case.
It clearly comes from a tackling context.
That means it was, uh, eventually, uh, ended up in Tagalog monastery and it has, uh.
Inscriptions on it. And these inscriptions, uh, testify.
Or one of them, a gold inscription testifies that it was consecrated by the successive abbots of times long.
This is, of course, a designation that is, uh, posterior.
Uh, from the time of the fourth Abbott. Until we can, uh, be entirely sure about it.
But what we can be sure is that this is an early iconography, with the concert standing to the side of the main image.
Uh, that this is an early, uh, representation.
No. Staying in the tagalong context.
Uh. It allows us to actually reflect on when somebody like becomes more mainstream in depicting depictions and that is,
uh, uncertain tackling, uh portrait but some bovine fathoms.
But thank you. Join uh, the generic kaiju lineage in the corners above the main figure.
Indicating the, the, um, adoption of, you know, additional teachings that go back to these two, uh, figures by the Tagalong school.
Uh, this particular painting. Is commissioned by the Third Eye, but just Tagalongs and Sangin, and probably dates towards the 1270s.
So in in the third quarter of the 13th century, and it's from that period onwards, the assembly is a kind of common feature on tycoon paintings.
I should just, uh, two for the sound.
This is, uh. The depiction of thank you.
I'm poor. That's the one who left, uh, argument.
And after one year of about sheep and found it, we would say, uh, monastery.
Uh, and in this case, we have, uh, pattern books on getting Batman's hamburger switched.
What these paintings all have in common, in terms of the depiction of putting a samurai,
is that he's depicted with a very, uh, when the, uh, lower robe.
Other end a soft head, but we don't actually see that much.
But the sides were switched and, uh, in another painting.
Well, here's the detail. Sorry. So you see the decorated lower dress and the monastic dress above that.
And in another painting, one of my favourites in the give me, uh, in the mosaic.
Give me, uh. Another portrait of Sanjiban.
Uh but most of uh and by Adam Bosanquet uh, essentially associated with uh the immediate teacher again Sanji uh, June.
And so it's again, this connection to, uh, this particular, uh, teacher that uh.
In which a button assembly emerges. So we could essentially use the title paintings to state that by the third quarter of the 13th century,
but some of his teachings have been integrated within the document Calculus school.
In early tackling paintings such as this one of tackling possible.
There's no, uh, support for that, uh, which of course makes one wonder if then, uh,
the gems Joe character painting can actually go back to, uh, to the time of, uh.
Uh. Uh, darling, don't put button for the ship.
What if it came with.
Maybe from outside, from mending most, uh uh uh, place, uh, into the dark, long school at the latest stage.
Uh, the inscription, uh, gives us a notion otherwise.
But I think when, um, doesn't need to take that at face value.
But as I said earlier, stylistically to fairly early painting.
Uh, that's for sure. And I just wouldn't take it as a fixed, uh, date for that.
Interestingly, within the Dragon School, uh, contemporary paintings or contemporaneous paintings of the Dragon School,
we don't have the emergence of Batman Sambo. Uh, there's clearly a different focus.
But, uh, the two monuments make clear that when, uh, tilting the founders to some take, uh.
Declared himself as a follower of the vegan that also by the ampersand is depicted in the earlier two monuments.
So here we have, uh, no depictions of Batman's umbrella, but but, um, the sun is there, but probably in a different function.
Not necessarily as a representative of Chu, but, uh, more as a representative of the the tradition moving from India to Tibet.
Uh, and the, uh, image on the right is on the Manjusri.
Whatever he did for Mars, he does, uh, represented, uh, and where he's single, adopts.
So now we look for the, uh, earliest, uh, some of, uh, depictions in the western Himalayas.
We'll have to essentially, uh.
Go to back to the monastery. And, uh, they're within two of these, uh, children that surround the monasteries.
Uh, paintings are found that relate to this, um, Buddha,
the first example of which I think it's actually online since many years on my, uh, website as a picture gallery.
Uh, the second one, uh, apparently never put up.
Uh, they're extremely fragmentary. They have, uh, this is the first example.
It has a destructive Monday on the main wall.
It had the face to this in.
Yeah boom on the sidewall.
So probably referencing the 42 peaceful deities.
But now, uh. In full representations and on.
On the, uh, right world is the, uh, depiction of Thutmose, of Baba, flanked by different cedars.
And so here you have at least six left and right.
I think it's eight altogether. They don't seem to be his different forms.
Uh, but more uh. Just other Indian cities.
And so. But to me this indicates is that he's and this to this being in the kind of raw as I see the as some of the, the uh, takes uh,
seem to indicate as well what we also have there is some additional deities and among them,
uh, also uh, a representation of Aquileia, uh, with uh, very nice, uh, but of these, uh.
As you can see, these paintings are extremely fragmentary.
They are in the children and they were essentially then closed up.
The same is true for the second example.
So these are photos from the early 90s, which I first never wanted to publish because it's not.
Yeah, they are not really supposed to be accessible anyway.
But I think they're just very important evidence that they should.
And you'll see here that between, uh, 94 and 96 that Jordan was covered up.
But again, it has a small chamber inside. So, Kim, on the on the main wall.
Uh, clearly then in a different style than the previous one, but still in the early one.
Uh, from the 13th century. It has now the full assembly of the 42 peaceful deities.
Um. Uh, the left side wall. And on the right side wall, it again has buttons, hamburger buns, cookie layers.
So very, very similar iconography, uh, to the previous monument, but no, uh.
With a different set of side figures left and right to assemble.
I don't really have better pictures, but I assume here that it's not.
Just see the depictions. It may well be that these are the different forms, but maybe as kind of in a narrative form,
uh, relating to the life of some of that is depicted here.
Uh, this would be a thing that one could study.
Equally worth of study would be the relationship to the protective deities above the door.
Uh, the, uh, uh, seven, uh, goddesses essentially riding different animals that are represented there.
And, uh, we see those as a prominent feature in all these, uh, but some other paintings that, uh.
I shall lead on as well. And so this conversion of goddesses seems to be an important, uh, topic in the early monuments.
So to me, these, uh, the earliest paintings, uh, the that I know of and they have certain characteristics, uh, that I now want to focus on.
Uh, but it's clear from the outset is the feather in the hat is the, uh,
flanked by ribbons in different colours, and it's clearly a lotus hat, but it is what I would call a soft hat.
It's, uh, soft, rounded, uh, as it is depicted.
But, uh, some rubber also has long earlobes.
And remarkably, in all the early depictions, uh, a secular coat that is usually very much decorated and a monastic robe wrapped around that.
And so to show these to different, uh, layers.
So it's actually just a two layer dress, uh, that we have represented in those, uh, depictions.
Other early examples that we could compare to, uh, essentially off of variations on the theme.
Uh, very interesting. One is in the museum in Korea.
It's a stone carving, said, but some other image.
But I'm not entirely sure if they were, uh, uh, regional to the image and or if they did.
But in any case, it's still an old, uh, representation.
But I think one can see here clearly that the niche had to be expanded to fit them in, uh, especially in the upper right corner.
If we look at Sam over here, the softness of the hips and the, uh, the folds, uh, clearly, uh, indicated.
And what's more unusual here is that the right shoulder is also covered by the rope.
Will then move back to Ladakh. To that end, example in Bangla.
Uh, that. Is very difficult to photograph because it's relatively high up on the wall in the nets were the main image
set in that niche is extremely important because I think it's only the topics that are represented there.
And, uh, there. We have one very prominent image of some of us now in.
Uh, both layers of the robes. Uh, richly ornamented.
And we have the representation of the forms of products on the left and right, as well as his consorts.
Uh. In a fairly unusual early form.
One detail I want to point out is, uh, 22 actually seated on the deck.
Uh. Uh, you know, on the the rightmost picture.
Another early example, I think that, uh, deserves notice is from the cult's collection and was acquired in Transco,
uh, at Casa and is clearly a legal representation as well.
It has similar elements. Uh, then the bundle of paintings, also with the storage at all, seated on the tiger,
but not entirely clear to me how it works with the manifestations.
Uh, and I think I miss, uh, Montara.
Well, on this particular painting, uh, but the assets may be represented, uh, the one on the lower figure on the left here.
Uh. But it's. I'm not entirely sure.
But that would again be worth a detailed study.
But we also have, uh, similar to Van La is that I agree, is underneath, uh, with his own assembly, uh, in this painting.
And if we go back to the image of, uh, but assemble above himself again, it's a rather soft head, but now very elongated.
It goes all the way down to the earrings. And, uh, a baton drop underneath.
Uh, but the right shoulder is also covered, and that becomes a kind of standard representation in some of the early Latakia monuments.
And here we have the middle floor of the, uh, from.
And that's the beauty. Uh, that also, uh, abutments, um, within that form, uh, with those, you know, the emphasis of the lower rope.
But we see that in the later depictions that one of meditation and the lower rope disappears.
Yeah. And that's essentially, well, for me, this one fits in good to an imitation of the lower rope has disappeared with the the.
Uh, that, uh, goes far down the side of the head.
But also other stylistic characteristics of this representation makes it relatively late.
Uh, of particular importance in that regard is, uh, one of mentation of the lotus petals, uh, for example, and, uh,
the lotus columns more broadly, the that's come from a vase that supports the bottom assembly image in this case.
And so I wouldn't count that among the earliest, uh, representations.
For me, it's rather 14th century representations.
Other early letter representations are interesting because the related relate of some of to long life and also depict is,
uh, the white form of armidale's uh, with uh, directly with fragments, um, look like above.
So here we have on the left side.
Uh, Mateo's, uh, with that most, um, of, uh, represented immediately above his head and on the right side.
But my son Bobo, uh, surrounded by the eight manifestations.
And uh, in kanji we have, uh, a similar association with a mateos that at the same time probably relates to the duality potential than the tantra.
Uh, and but some of the ideas here now in the three layered dress and the outermost layer is,
interestingly, the same secular code that the king bears in the representations of the region and time.
And so quite the, uh. A different form of, uh, representation of the outer robe with the sleeves, the empty sleeves, uh, hanging down to the sides.
That is, of course, a characteristic that we also have in this tank.
Uh, uh, from a private collection that is on the hub.
Again, we have the soft head when it, uh, lower robe, monastic robe above that.
And then essentially a code, the secular code that covers the entire, uh, body of the figure on the outside.
So quite interesting. Uh, variations, uh, in this early representations.
And of course, it has this fantastic lotus head. Uh, that drop, I think, used in one of his publications and is surrounded by darkness.
If you'll now move to Mustang. Uh. But Mr. Mobile first doesn't appear.
In the earliest monuments, again, like in the western Himalayas.
I think the earliest representation is found within century onwards.
And the, uh.
Nam gil, uh. Representation in the sutra collection is probably the earliest I have, or it is the earliest that I've found so far.
Its depiction, again, has this, uh, soft lotus head, uh, and.
Uh, the cape on the outside. But, uh, in addition, uh, to the, uh, Indian monastic robe, he is now a Tibetan vest and sleeve for this list.
Underneath, interestingly, is the location of this, uh, particular representation in the overall program of the manuscript.
These are two volumes, and but most of the occurs in one of the last volumes with the protective deities and not, you know,
the Buddhist Buddhist, that those are represented and so clearly in a different status within, uh, the overall pantheon.
And even by the time with the Muslim kingdom, when the temple was filled in the second quarter of the 15th century, but most of it plays a minor role.
But there's a major difference between this set and that before, namely, it became a hard hat, a head that has a canonical shape and,
uh, relatively steady rim, uh, going around, uh, the head, uh, here painted in a somewhat awkward fashion.
But it is this set that we find in some of the earliest bronze images that I documented in Boston.
Uh, very interesting is this one. It's clearly of very high quality.
Probably dates to the 15th century. Uh.
And, uh, has this, uh.
Peculiar hat and has its three layered dress, but the lower, uh, secular robe is now only visible, uh, at the sleeve or through the lower sleeves,
uh, otherwise not, uh, visible anymore, because essentially it's covered up, uh, by the rest of the dress and, uh.
It has the iconic hat, the, the, the hat rim, so to speak, of that hat.
And in this case, uh, even the, um, eyes, the red of the eyes is inlaid in copper.
So it's I think what this image shows is that the level of ownership is suddenly jumped in terms of, of, uh, quality that is placed into that image.
And from the same time, we also have, uh, teacher representations that, uh, uh, clearly modelled on Batman Sambo.
But rather than being representations of Sambo himself, this one is an inscribed, uh.
And probably represent animate teacher with elements of the secular dress, especially the way the back is modelled.
Uh, the directly compared to lambda lineages of the or lambda representations of the uh uh 15th century,
and can be dated that way, even though the pedestal is somewhat awkward.
And. This one has the characteristic early inlay work in the dress and with boys, of course.
Here is again this Kornegay had with the hard trim, uh, going all the way around.
Um. This one is interesting because it does actually have an inscription, but I'm not sure what it refers to.
Uh, it's names added to as, uh, the mud tomb.
She again suggests it up kilts and probably, uh, but I'm not sure who, uh, could have been that person at that time.
Later representations was still a fairly early representation in Clay's, this one from the monastery, with some restoration to the hands.
Uh. That again shows this three layered dress and the conical hat.
Uh, here a little bit, uh. Distinct, uh, but in some cases, they're clearly local productions and very, very difficult to attribute on a date.
Uh, what those have in common now, from essentially this image onwards is that they have this tantric cape on the outside,
the two cape or crossed magic cape.
And in this particular representation, what was it?
What is interesting is that on the front side, it's actually on the lower rope and on the backside it's on the cape.
So it's it's an interesting way of, uh, representing it.
So then we'll move on to a few for the number of, uh, early representations.
Uh. Of the first of which still shows the earlier, I think, two layered dress with the ornate lower rope.
And that's, uh, on this painting of Guru Dark or that is in the Rubin Museum of Art.
And so it may actually still be more like early 16th or maybe even late 14th century.
It, uh, also shows, uh, the manifestations on top.
With uh, 22 know without, uh, the tiger.
Uh, Vicky and then you have, uh.
This wonderful painting at the V, and then, uh, but with that Mr. Hamburger surrounded by his disciples.
I did that to the 15th century rather than the 14th, as the museum currently does.
Uh, simply, uh, already on the basis of the very complex, uh, decorated robes that is much more similar to the, uh, representations.
Uh, unusual about it is that the head, of course, is here, uh, stretched out.
It's hanging down the the side. Uh, uh, it's.
They also, would that need to be soft? Uh, another interesting element about it is.
Uh, the tiger skin that is visible on the rope and, uh,
that he holds both face and skullcap together and that these are the attributes to do come to old to the side.
Um, as offerings. So there's a kind of parallelism, uh, going on here.
And that is also the case with this particular representation.
Uh, again, the tiger skin at the lower rope and, uh.
The Duke contoured holding base and the skullcap, which joined in the hand of Bud Mazama by himself.
This particular painting is interesting because it the candy comes from a tagalong context, but it hasn't been included in the study.
The reason study the 2010 case he has published.
But the yellow hatted uh uh teachers, uh, flanking the head of Batman above a clearly point to attack from context.
So that was essentially my survey.
It's relatively clear from that that the earliest depictions of that movie himself, uh,
come to the fore somewhere in the maybe in the early 13th century,
with kind of more representations of, of, uh, him, uh, towards the late 13th century.
That he is. The emergence of his depiction essentially parallels the emergence of depictions of the highest tantric deities in sexual embrace.
Uh. That's probably not accidental.
And that his stress becomes, uh, increasingly complex over times.
But the, uh, a lot of very since within the early depictions and, uh,
early depictions also seem to be specific enough to that there's a high potential that they can be associated with particular texts at the time.
Thank you.