The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 20, 2024

Prajnaparamita flanked by two female figures, folio 1 (verso), from a Manuscript of the Perfection of Wisdom in Eight Thousand Lines (Ashtasahasrika Prajnaparamita-sutra)

Prajnaparamita flanked by two female figures, folio 1 (verso), from a Manuscript of the Perfection of Wisdom in Eight Thousand Lines (Ashtasahasrika Prajnaparamita-sutra)

Sunday, September 14, 1119 (year 239 of the Newar Samvat in the month of Ashvina)
Gum tempera and ink on palm leaf
Leaf: 5.4 x 54.3 cm (2 1/8 x 21 3/8 in.)
Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 1938.301.1.b
Location: not on view

Did You Know?

Although barely visible now, delicate diaphanous scarves are draped around the arms of all three figures.

Description

In the center of the first folio, the personification of the texts found within the manuscript is shown as a crowned four-armed goddess holding a rosary, palm leaf, and giving a mudra, or symbolic hand gesture, indicating that she is in the process of teaching. The haloed Prajnaparamita’s golden skin tone and accoutrements showcase the image’s self-reflexive relationship to the light-colored palm leaf that was used to make this book. The text on this leaf is not the Perfection of Wisdom itself, but rather a preamble of praises to the goddess known as the Prajnaparamita-stotra of Rahula. These hymns would have continued onto folio 2 of the manuscript, which was unfortunately lost before the volume was acquired by the Cleveland Museum of Art.
  • ?–1938
    (Heeramaneck Galleries, New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
    1938–
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958. Mentioned: cat. no. 754 archive.org
    O’Mara, Reed. “‘On Golden Tablets’: The Cleveland Museum of Art’s Aṣṭasāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā Manuscript as a Self-Referential Icon.” Religions 11, no. 274 (2020): 1-19. Reproduced: p. 2, figs. 1-2.
  • Stories From Storage. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 7-May 16, 2021).
  • {{cite web|title=Prajnaparamita flanked by two female figures, folio 1 (verso), from a Manuscript of the Perfection of Wisdom in Eight Thousand Lines (Ashtasahasrika Prajnaparamita-sutra)|url=false|author=|year=Sunday, September 14, 1119 (year 239 of the Newar Samvat in the month of Ashvina)|access-date=20 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1938.301.1.b