book-cover
- Museum number
- 1973,0514.1
- Description
-
A rectangular wooden book cover painted on the inside face with a central figure of Prajñāparamitā flanked on each side by three rows of Bodhisattvas and monks; the outer face is carved with Buddhas.
- Production date
- 13thC
- Dimensions
-
Height: 27.40 centimetres
-
Width: 71.90 centimetres
-
Depth: 3.50 centimetres
- Curator's comments
-
Probably the cover for a Prajnaparamita (Perfection of Wisdom) text.
-
Zwalf 1985
The wonderfully preserved painted face of this bookcover is its inner side; the outer, slightly convex, is carved with Buddhas. The style of painting derives from Nepal and eastern India, but the cover is Tibetan. The limited size of the oblong Indian and Nepalese palm-leaf pages was increased by the Tibetan use of paper, and wooden covers were correspondingly enlarged. The central deity is Prajñāpāramitā, or the Perfection of Wisdom, representing a central conception of Mahāyāna Buddhism, and the cover may have belonged to a Perfection of Wisdom text. The figures beside the goddess are Bodhisattvas and monks; the latter include what look like portraits of living or recent teachers whom it may be possible to recognise from other sources.
- Location
- Not on display
- Exhibition history
-
2015-2016 19 Nov-28 Feb, London, Wellcome Collection, Tibet's Secret Temple: Body, Mind and Meditation in Tantric Buddhism
- Condition
- Significant traces of red colour on wrapping tissue after Bonn loan, indicating loss of pigment during transportation. Object should not, therefore, travel in future. MW to Keeper 10/1996
- Acquisition date
- 1973
- Department
- Asia
- Registration number
- 1973,0514.1
