Thangka, seen in every monastery and family shrine in Southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, is actually a kind of Tibetan scroll-banner painting and is a unique art form under Tibetan culture.
What Thangka is
Thangka has been in vogue in Tibet for centuries. In Tibetan, thang means "unfolding" or "displaying," and thangka means "silk, satin, or cloth painting scroll." It is most often painted on scrolls or embroidered on wall hangings of silk or other cloth. Common at monasteries, lamas' residences, family halls for worshipping Buddha, and homes of Tibetan Buddhists, thangka is a mark of devotion to Buddhism and often serves as an object of worship.
Development
Nobody knows where and when thangka originated, but compared with Tibetan painting, the history of thangka can be traced back to as early as the Tubo period (or rather the Songtsen Gampo period, around the 7th century), in a combination of Chinese scroll painting,
In the 7th century, Songtsen Gampo united the whole Tibet, hence beginning a new period in Tibetan history. Later Songtsen Gampo married
The two princesses came to Tibet with many Buddhist scriptures, architectural technology, laws and truths, medical scriptures, and many skilled artisans, greatly stimulating the development of Tibetan society, and especially flourishing the culture of Tibetan Buddhism. At that time, frescoes alone could not satisfy the need of those disciples. So another kind of art, Thangka -- easy to carry, hang, and collect --, appeared and became popular.
During the Ming and Qing dynasties (1368-1911), the Central Government adopted the system of approving Tibetan chieftains to strengthen the control over Tibet. These methods contributed to the development of the Tibetan society. So the Ming and Qing dynasties saw a great progress in the development of thangka. In fact, most of the existing thangka were made during this period of thangka development, which had three characteristics: a larger number of thangka; the rise of different schools; and the existence of many painting organizations.
Thangka, A Unique Tibetan Culture
Content
The content of thangka covers various subjects such as historical events, personage biographies, religious doctrines, Tibetan natural conditions and social customs, folklores, myths, and images of great deities and Buddhas.
The content also encompasses Jataka stories of the Buddha, and so on, involving politics, economy, history, religion, literature and art, social life, Tibetan astrology, pharmacology, theology, and many other respects.
The structure of Tibetan thangka is precise, balanced, thick, and flexible. The painting methods are mainly bright color and line drawing.
Thangka always has a Buddhist theme, and the artists must follow the sacred laws for portraying gods and Buddhas. Passages from scriptures are written in vermilion on the back, and thangkas are always unsigned, so it is next to impossible to know the painter and the age of ancient thangkas.
Process
Thangkas are usually placed upright in a rectangular shape while there are a few that deal with mandala (an imaginary place that is though of during meditation) depictions that are square. Cotton canvas and linen cloth are the common fabrics on which pictures are painted with mineral and organic pigments (important thangkas use ground gold and gemstones as pigments). A typical thangka has a printed or embroidered picture mounted on a piece of colorful silk. A wooden stick is attached on the side from the bottom to the top to make it easier to hang and roll up.
To paint a thangka, an artist usually begins by stretching a piece of cotton cloth on a wooden frame along its sides. Then, a certain type of gesso (plaster) is spread over both the front and back of the canvas to block the holes and then scraped off to produce smooth surfaces.
Afterwards, some orienting lines are drawn to guide the sketching. By following a fixed proportion, the artist creates some roughly drawn images. The featured deity or saint occupies the center while other attendant deities or monks, comparatively smaller in size, surround the central figure and along the border.
Next is coloring. Painters apply pigments on the sketch, with black, green, red, yellow, and white as the basic colors used. All the colors are mixed with animal glue and ox bile to keep them bright. Shading is then done to produce better pictorial effects.
In the final stage, facial features and eyes are sacredly finished, only after a ritual is held on a fixed day. After the artist finishes the details, the canvas is removed from the frame and mounted on a piece of brocaded silk. The wooden sticks are attached to the top and bottom of the silk. After a dust cover of gossamer silk is attached, the thangka is ready to be hung up. Thangka, A Unique Tibetan Culture
Classification
Thangkas can be made in a wide variety of techniques: silk tapestry with cut designs, color printing, embroidery, brocade, appliqu��¦, and pearl inlay. Therefore, there are various styles.
The common size of thangkas, with a scroll at the bottom, is usually 75 centimeters long and 50 centimeters wide. Besides, there is the banner style, measuring is 1.1 meters long and about 3.5 meters wide.
According to the material, thangkas can be divided into two types: One, called gos-thang, is made of silk, and the other, called bris-thang, is made of pigment. The gos-thang is printed on the canvas while the bris-thang is painted on the canvas.
1. Gos-thang
According to the different kinds of silk, gos-thang can be divided into five classes:
(1) Tshem-drub-ma is made of different kinds of silk woven by hand.
(2) Lhan-dr-ub-ma or dras-drub-ma: To make this kind of thangka, different kinds of silk are first cut into different shapes and then connected with needles.
(3) Lhan-thabs-ma: This kind is a little similar to the second, but to make this one, different shapes of silk are glued together by glue water.
(4) Thag-drub-ma: This thangka is woven by hand.
(5) Dpar-ma: To make this kind of thangka, a molding board is necessary to print the pictures into the silk.
The largest thangka of the gos-thang kind is called gos-sku, 
which is too big to hang up. In fact, it is only used in some special religious rituals. In the Potala Palace, there is a gos-sku with a length of 55.8 meters and a width of about 46.81 meters, made during the 5th Dalai Lama period (17th century).
2. Bris-thang
According to the background color, bris-thang can be divided into five classes:
(1) Tsho-thang: The background is multicolor.
(2) Gser-thang: The background is yellow.
(3) Mtshal-thang: The background is vermilion.
(4) Dpar-thang: The background is black.
(5) Dpar-thang: The method making this kind of thangka is the same as that of water print.
The largest bris-thang is 3 meters long and 2 meters wide while the smallest one is about 30 centimeters long and 20 centimeters wide.
Thangka, A Unique Tibetan Culture
Genre
Different styles of Thangka represent different schools of paintings in Tibet:
1. Karzhi School
Karzhi is one of the schools of Tibetan paintings and sculptures styles. It is said this school follows the painting style that had been used by Karma Mikye Dorje in the Figure Measurement. Karma Mikye Dorje composed the painting him and was famous for painting calm and kind-hearted personal figures.
2. ChenZher School
ChenZher ChanMou of KhongKarLdo in Tibet founded ChenZher, which was born out of, and still uses, the ManThangPa painting style.
3. Mansale School
The founder of the Mansale School was Qiangpa-Quyang Gyel-tshap. The school's painting style is close to the ManNiang School, with characteristics of boorish lines, powerful faces, taller figures, dense colors, and fine painting techniques.
4. Karlri School
The Karlri School was founded by the Living Buddha LanMuKar ZhaXi, who combined the technique of measurement in Tibetan painting style with those of coloring and arrangement in Chinese painting. It has characteristics of large pictures and various contents. This school usually paints personage with a pleasant and pretty face and an implicit smile.
5. JeJuBi School
The JeJuBi School is a school of painting founded by Karma Quyhang Dorje, who absorbed the painting style of Kashmir based on Tibetan painting.
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6. Manlu School
Manlu School is the collective name of the ManNiang and Mansale schools.
7. DenLu School
This school follows the painting style of scholars like ChiJar andManThang¡��CharKar, whohad written many art books like Figure Measurement Favonian Beads, and so on.
8. ShiGamPa School
The ShiGamPa painting style and schools that have kept this painting style all are under the ShiGamPa School. The school is also called the
9. Deri School
Deri is a school that combined the painting style of the Karlri and ManThangPa schools. The school mostly pays attention to the sculpture, expression, and connotation of the people painted.
10. ManNiang School
Founded by ManlaThongZhu in the 14th century, it is the earliest painting school in Tibet. This school almost always paints either smiling or angry people, with a slim and graceful figure and lifelike expression, arrayed in magnificent clothes, and decked in fine colors. In addition, the yardstick of every position of the painted people's body is moderate.
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