Publication details
Comparative description of the paintings
| Authors | |
|---|---|
| Year of publication | 2012 |
| Type | Chapter of a book |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| Description | Buddhist thanatology is based on varied source texts of which the best known and most popular are those telling about the post-mortem Jama's judgment and depicting diverse hell torments. Tibetan thanatological texts also include drawn, painted or xylographic illustrations, which visually represent such torments in naturalistic and colorful manner. This contribution deals with visual representation of Chinese and Tibetan Buddhist thanatology, using primarily the comparative approach. Similarly it deals with one, not yet published (and not yet processed) depiction of post-mortem judgments, present in Asian collections of the National Gallery in Prague. These illustrations accompany the Tibetan translation of the Chinese text known as the Sutra of the Ten Kings. Chinese texts concerning the ten kings are usually illustrated with depictions of ten courts and this is also the case of the illuminated Tibetan manuscript from Prague. Some of the accompanying pictures resemble the Chinese original; however, some of them bear remarkably innovative features. |
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