of deities of the pantheon, along with many other trea-
sures. The rich interior wooden structures are heavily
painted.
In Tibet, sculptures that were not permanently fixed
into an architectural context were rarely executed in
stone, but rather in stucco, clay, and metal. The cen-
ter of bronze casting was Kham in western Tibet, es-
pecially Sde dge (Derge); the technique was cire perdue,
often gilded. Foreign influences, especially from Pala
and Sena in eastern India, are obvious during early pe-
riods in western Tibet and Ladakh. During the Yuan
period (1279–1368) in China, artists from Nepal were
also active. Different local stylistic varieties exist over
longer periods. Whereas icons used in rituals were sub-
ject to formal rules and measurements of iconography,
the portraits of historical saints and monks show ten-
dencies toward realism.
Paintings not executed on walls of temples may be
grouped into two categories: mobile hanging scrolls
(thang ka) and book illustrations. Thang kas,which
show Chinese influences, were painted mainly in
gouache on cotton or paper and framed in elaborate
mountings, often of brocade. Icons were governed by
strict rules of iconometry; illustrations of texts or bi-
ographies and views of temples were more freely rep-
resented. The different styles were connected to the
spread of religious schools, but beginning in the four-
teenth century there was a stylistic unification con-
nected with the spread of the Sa skya order over Tibet.
Chinese influences are obvious after the fifteenth cen-
tury in landscape images, even when these images
serve only as settings for compositions centered on
figures.
Mongolia
Knowledge about Buddhist art of the Mongolian re-
gion is limited, partly because many monuments have
been destroyed through the centuries. Only a few
lamaistic monasteries remain, their architectural struc-
ture and style exhibiting a mingling of autochthonous
and Tibetan traditions, with increasing Chinese influ-
ence beginning in the eighteenth century. Beginning in
the sixteenth century, Buddhist monasteries in Mon-
golia were established as centers of cities. Buildings in
Tibetan style, like the temple in the monastery Erdeni
Zuu, erected in 1586, had a square plan with enclos-
ing walls that were crowned by stupas. Erdeni Zuu has
108 small stupas on its walls, as well as three temples
and a stupa inside. The temple Wudang-zhao, erected
in 1749 in Inner Mongolia, looks purely Tibetan and
contains wall paintings of S ́akyamuni, Yamantaka, and
Tsong kha pa in its three stories. The most important
temple in Mongolian style was located at Maidari, but
it was destroyed in 1938. The Da Kürij-e of 1651 is
crowned by an upper story with a roof in the form of
a Mongolian tent. Monastic buildings in Sino-Tibetan
style, like the Dalailama Temple of 1675 at Erdeni Zuu,
are characterized by Chinese roofs. Stupas, called sub-
urganin Mongolian, resemble Tibetan chörtenin form
and style.
The sculptor Bogdo Gegen Zanabazar (1635–1723),
trained at Lhasa as both a religious patriarch and an
artist, created in Outer Mongolia a tradition of bronze
sculpture with characteristic drum-shaped pedestals
that exhibits simplicity and excellent workmanship.
Slight influences from Nepal and China are observable.
Another school of Dolonnor at Urga in Inner Mon-
golia is stylistically closer to China.
Buddhist painting in Mongolia is directly related to
that of Central Tibet, the paintings mostly being
framed with silk brocades from China. Typical are
hanging scrolls formed by application of textiles in dif-
ferent colors and showing mandalas or icons.Bhutan
Most early monuments and buildings in Bhutan were
destroyed during an earthquake in 1896. Monastic
complexes have three-story temples at the end of a
square court with habitations at the sides. The upper
stories contain chapels, with the most important
chapel at the top center. The slightly projecting roofs
are designed like those in secular mansions. Typical for
Bhutan are monastic fortresses (rdzong) with inner
courts containing religious and secular wings and sur-
rounded by galleries. The main building has five floors
with chapels. The court of Tashi chödzong (Bkra shis
chos rdzong) at Thimbu is used for religious dance fes-
tivals. The compact structure at Paro (Spa gro) was
burnt, but reconstructed in 1864; today it is a museum.See also:Central Asia, Buddhist Art in; Huayan Art;
India, Buddhist Art in; Monastic Architecture; Mon-
golia; Nepal; Silk Road; TibetBibliography
Aris, Michael. Bhutan: The Early History of a Himalayan King-
dom.Warminster, UK: Aris and Phillips, 1979.
Berger, Patricia, and Bartholomew, Terese Tse. Mongolia: The
Legacy of Chinggis Khan.London: Thames and Hudson,
1995.HIMALAYAS, BUDDHISTART IN