A PAINTED WOOD SUTRA COVER

TIBET, CIRCA 13TH CENTURY

Footnotes

西藏 約十三世紀 木質彩繪護經板

Surviving with vibrant colors, the painted inside of this manuscript cover depicts a pair of arhats revering a green-bodied Vajrasattva and a figure dressed in royal Tibetan attire who likely represents Maitreya or Vairocana Buddha in a manner following 11th-century depictions seen at Yemar in Central Tibet (cf. Henss, The Cultural Monuments of Tibet, Vol.II, 2014, pp.563-4, figs.803-4). Each figure is set against a solid red nimbus and sits on a bicolored lotus base, while the scene is framed by a dark blue background punctuated with red flowers.

The painting is in an early Tibetan style that clearly emulates the Pala tradition of Northeastern India. For example, the oval bolsters, each with two triangular projections indicating a throne back, are commonly seen in Pala illuminated manuscripts (e.g., Pal, Tibetan Paintings, 1984, p.46, pl.5). The occasional shading used for the lotus petals and Vajrasattva's body, as well as the sinuous upper eyelid, can also be traced to India.

Compare with a closely related pair of 13th-century Tibetan manuscript covers sold at Bonhams, Hong Kong, 24 May 2021, lot 1. Also see a contemporaneous example depicting Manjuvajra preserved in The Metropolitan Museum of Art (1998.75; Kossak & Singer, Sacred Visions, 1998, pp.148-9, no.39), as well a manuscript page with similarly styled illumination sold at Bonhams, New York, 14 March 2016, lot 19.

Provenance:
Arnold Lieberman, New York
Private European Collection, acquired from above in the early 1990s