A Thanka with Scenes from the Avadana Kalpalata

This genre of historical painting showing Buddha surrounded by scenes from his life is known as avadana ("experiental tales"), here following a stylistic scheme developed by Situ Panchen. Other examples, from the Ernst Jucker Collection, are illustrated in D. Jackson, A History of Tibetan Painting, 1996, pls. 53 and 54; and from the Rubin Collection, M. Rhie and R. Thurman, Worlds of Transformation, 1999, cat. nos. 7-9.