Pair of Manuscript Covers with Buddhist Deities

Nepal (Kathmandu Valley)

Not on view

This pair of wooden covers protected the palm-leaf folios of a Buddhist sacred text. One cover has the nine Buddhist goddesses, each holding a staff surmounted by the wish-fulfilling jewel (cintamani), while the other cover has the five transcendental Buddhas flanked by four bodhisattvas. Painted on the interior, the iconography offers a protective field to the holy text within, in this case likely the Perfection of Wisdom text, the Ashtasathasrika Prajnaparamita Sutra.

Pair of Manuscript Covers with Buddhist Deities, Distemper on wood, Nepal (Kathmandu Valley)

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