TIBET, LATE 17TH CENTURY

The present painting is a rare depiction of King Ralpachen, one of the Three Dharma Kings of Tibet, historical figures who purportedly supported and patronized Buddhism after it was first introduced to the country and before the faith was subsequently wiped out for more than a century. Alongside his fellow kings of the Yarlung dynasty, Songtsen Gampo (CE 569-649) and Trisong Detsen (CE 742-797), Ralpachen (CE 802-838) was a strong supporter of the earliest forms of Buddhism (Nyingma) introduced into Tibet. At this time, Buddhism was competing with the local religion of Tibet, Bon, and as such incorporated many elements of Bon as a means of integrating into the royal religious culture. After Ralpachen’s death, according to some accounts, he murdered by Bon revanchist ministers, the country returned to its indigenous religion until the time of Atisha in the eleventh century. Although rare in early Tibetan Buddhist art, the depiction of the Three Dharma Kings became more popular from the seventeenth century onwards as the country reunified under the banner of the Gelug Dalai Lamas and centralized power became more acceptable.