Sutra cover
On each cover, central panel is enclosed by a narrow border of florets, surrounded by a wider one with a band of stylized slanting lotus petals (a motif similar but unrelated to gadrooning on European silver) and a raised edge with stylized scrolls. The longitudinal sides are decorated with floral scrolls and two of the ends with a kirtimukha animal mask (the other ends have only scrolls).
On the reverse of the top cover is inscribedare inscriptions in Chinese and Tibetan. The Large Sutra of Perfect Wisdom, chapter 9 in Tibetan and Chinese. The Chinese reads: “Hundred thousands of hymns praise the great sacred wisdom that [guide a believer] to reach the other side of the shore (i.e. nirvana, enlightenment).” The covers would have enclosed the complete sutra printed in separate leaves on paper.
Exhibition History
Emperors, Scholars and Temples: Tastemakers of China’s Ming and Qing Dynasties, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, August 12, 2016 – January, 2017.
This Buddhist sutra cover reflects the cultural exchange between the Ming court and Tibetan monasteries in the early 1400s. Although produced in China, the cover was designed to hold scriptures made for a Tibetan monastery. The volume was printed in the Tibetan language and bound in separate leaves. This format differed from the accordion-fold books typical of Chinese texts (see examples nearby).
The cover is decorated using the Chinese qiangjin technique, in which pieces of gold foil are pressed into grooves carved into red lacquer. Three flaming jewels in the center symbolize the Buddha, his teaching and the monastic community. On either side are depictions of a parasol, conch, lotus flower and knot. These images represent four of the “Eight Treasures,” Tibetan motifs that were adopted into Chinese art.
Mike Lyon;
Bequeathed by Mike Lyon to The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 2016.
