Buddhist manuscripts are usually provided with elaborate wooden covers, following the horizontal layout of the pages. Often, they are carved in various degrees of relief with figures, animals and foliage patterns. The central figure in this cover is crowned and bejewelled like a bodhisattva and may be tentatively identified as Amitabha. The two figures flanking him wear monastic robes and are seated in the contemplative earth touching gesture, which can be identified with Akshobhya as well as Shakyamuni. The wide register surrounding the figures is decorated with stylized vegetal and floral motifs.
Details
- Title: Book Cover with Buddhist Deities
- Date: 15th century
- Medium: Painted and gilded wood
- Dimensions: 10-5/8 x 27-7/8 in. (27.0 x 70.8 cm)
- Credit Line: Norton Simon Art Foundation, from the Estate of Jennifer Jones Simon
- Accession Number: M.2010.1.209.S
- Copyright: © Norton Simon Art Foundation
Object Information
Treasures from the Himalayas: Sacred Treasures from Tibet, Nepal and Northern India
- Norton Simon Museum, 2003-05-30 to 2003-10-27
Painting and Sculpture from Nepal, Tibet and Northwest India
- Norton Simon Museum, 1994-09-22 to 1997-06-01
- Pal, Pratapaditya, Asian Art at the Norton Simon Museum, Volume 2: Art from the Himalayas & China, 2003, no. 123 pp. 12, 179-181
- Campbell, Sara, Collector Without Walls: Norton Simon and His Hunt for the Best, 2010, cat. 1659 p. 432
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