book-cover BM-1973-0514.1

Period:Unknown Production date:13thC
Materials:wood
Technique:carved, painted,
Subjects:bodhisattva buddha monk/nun
Dimensions:Height: 27.40 centimetres Width: 71.90 centimetres Depth: 3.50 centimetres

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.
IMG


Comments:Probably the cover for a Prajnaparamita (Perfection of Wisdom) text. Zwalf 1985The 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.