Manjushri

About this work

You see a bright green figure sitting on a throne, holding a sword and a book. His robes flow like silk, and clouds swirl around him in soft pinks and blues. This is Manjushri, the Buddhist god of wisdom, but the artist gave him Chinese clothes and jewels instead of Indian ones. The mix shows how Buddhism changed as it traveled. The deep green comes from ground malachite, a mineral that was expensive and hard to use. To see more like this, look up *china, ming dynasty (1368–1644)*.