„The themes of the murals painted on the wooden ceiling are completely different [from the wall-paintings]. Here the geometric and vegetal lines encircle fabulous birds of multi-coloured feathers, flowers in the roundels an Apsarãses. The white Apsarã holding bum-pa (pûrnakumbha) in her right hand with the scarf fluttering over her shoulders is
remarkably stimulating.[...]
... the painters of Tabo had become well conservant with the stylistic idioms which previosly existed in the gTsug-lag-khan, and copied and modified them according to the needs of the dGe-lugs-pa sect. They also introduced some new trends originating from the monastic centres of Tholing, Tsaparang and Gyantse where Nepali and Central-Tibetan traditions had already been assimilated into the Gu-ge repertoire.“

Text: „Buddhism in the Western Himalaya“, Laxman S. Thakur, Oxford University Press 2001
Fotos: Holger Neuwirth