Iconographic Sketchbook (c. 1500): Art, History and Details

Iconographic Sketchbook (c. 1500) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

These rare surviving pages of a practice book have drawings of prominent tantric figures. The line drawing is confident and masterful, with each iconographic element rendered with clarity and precision. The svelte proportions of the figures follow the style of the Khyenri school initiated in the second half of the 15th century by the artist Khyentse Wangchuk (about 1420-1500), known for his elegant and energetic depictions of the fierce manifestations of the enlightened beings.

Object facts

• Title: Iconographic Sketchbook
• Date: c. 1500
• Culture: Tibet
• Type: Drawing
• Technique: ink and watercolor on cotton
• Dimensions: Overall: 20.3 x 12.7 cm (8 x 5 in.)
• Collection: Tibetan Art
• Department: Indian and Southeast Asian Art
• Accession number: 1985.191

A detail from the museum

Tibetan thangka painters referred to sketchbooks with drawings that delineate the iconographies—appearance and identifying attributes—of Buddhist figures.

Collection credit

Delia E. Holden Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Turner, Evan H. “The Year in Review for 1985.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art, vol. 73, no. 2, 1986, pp. 26–71.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.