Thirteen works with Shakyamuni Buddha and scenes from the Avadanakalpalata Distemper on cloth Tibet

The important set of thirteen paintings from a series of thankas illustrating the Avadanakalpalata of Shakyamuni Buddha, the first painting with Buddha in vajraparyankasana and bhumisparsha mudra on a high lion throne with elaborate torana and parasol above, seated before an assembly of monks, guardians and bodhisattvas gathered around a crystal bowl of jewels, offerings and the dharmachakra, and a further twelve paintings depicting scenes from the Buddha’s previous lives set in open landscape with mountains, palaces, lakes and temple compounds.

Blanche Christine Olschak and Geshé Thupten Wangyal, Mystic Art of Ancient Tibet, Boston, 1987, pp. 72-3
David P. Jackson, A History of Tibetan Painting, Vienna, 1996, pp. 265, 269-70
Hugo E. Kreijger, Tibetan Painting, The Jucker Collection, Boston, 2001, p. 34-7, no. 4

The iconography is based on a poem, Bodhisattva Avadanakalpalata, composed by the Kashmiri poet Kshemendra in 1052, and concerned with the deeds of self-sacrifice of the Buddha in previous lives leading up to his enlightenment. The composition of the series is based on a design of the Situ Panchen Chokyi Jungne (1700-1774), a Karma Kagyu master and artist from Kham in eastern Tibet. Having travelled to Nepal and India, he expressly portrayed his Avadana scenes using Indian style of dress, landscape and palaces. He further claimed that he combined old and current Tibetan painting styles but made different in numerous ways. For a full discussion on the life and work of Situ Panchen; see Jackson, 1996, pp. 259-87