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Folio 20 from a Gandavyuha-sutra (Scripture of the Supreme Array): Sudhana and a parrot (recto); Text (verso)

Unknown

1104

unspecified

From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art

Medieval Religious Nepal

Dominant colour

Folio 20 from a Gandavyuha-sutra (Scripture of the Supreme Array): Sudhana and a parrot (recto); Text (verso) is a 1104 unspecified by Unknown, depicting Nepal, held at Cleveland Museum of Art.

Who painted this?: Unknown
When & what style?: 1104
Where can I see it?: Cleveland Museum of Art

About this work

A young man sits cross-legged under a tree, hand raised toward a bright green parrot. The bird perches on a branch, wings half-open. Gold leaf glows behind them. This painting is one page from a 355-page book of Buddhist stories. Each page had only one picture, so the artist had to tell the whole scene in a single moment. The parrot isn’t just decoration—it’s part of the lesson about kindness and trust. To see more paintings like this, look up the subject nepal.

The story of this work

Overview

A young male figure, probably the pilgrim Sudhana, sits on a cushion with a bolster and interacts with a parrot, perched on the trunk of a tree. Sudhana's gesture indicates that the bird should not be afraid. Most pages from this dispersed 355-folio manuscript have a single painting only on the recto side.