Tshering Dondrub

CHINA, Tibet, Lhoka

Tshering Dondrub was a Tibetan painter from Qusum, Shannan (present day Lhoka). Coming from a family of painters, he exhibited talents at a very young age. By 12 years old, he began studying under the famous painter Tshering Gyalpo, and quickly mastered the theories and techniques of Tibetan painting. He entered the Xueduibai Traditional Manual Art Center, an official arts and crafts fabrication workshop, when he was 18 and was promoted to the position of vice chief painter by age 20. Being highly recognized by the Thirteenth Dalai Lama, he was later appointed as a management official.
Many of Tshering Dondrub’s paintings, which are still well-preserved today, include the delicate murals in Sera Monastery. He was also involved, alongside Yeshe Gyatso, in the design of various hall murals in the Norbulingka Palace, the design and painting of three murals in the Thirteenth Dalai Lama Reliquary Stupa Shrine, and the line drawings of large thangkas in the Potala Palace. Among them, the mural, Biography of the Thirteenth Dalai Lama, in the Thirteenth Dalai Lama Reliquary Stupa Shrine was personally painted by him.