Text, Folio 110 (verso), from a Manuscript of the Perfection of Wisdom in Eight Thousand Lines (Ashtasahasrika Prajnaparamita-sutra)

unspecified

From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art

Byzantine icon painting Classical Antiquity

Dominant colour

Text, Folio 110 (verso), from a Manuscript of the Perfection of Wisdom in Eight Thousand Lines (Ashtasahasrika Prajnaparamita-sutra) is a 14 unspecified by Unknown, a Byzantine icon painting work, held at Cleveland Museum of Art.

Who painted this?: Unknown
When & what style?: 14 · Byzantine icon painting
Where can I see it?: Cleveland Museum of Art

About this work

This is a long, narrow wooden strip with three raised blocks of tiny, evenly spaced dots. The dots form rows of text, carved into the wood in a grid pattern. The surface looks worn, with some marks or scratches visible. These dots aren’t letters—they’re part of an ancient writing system called a *dot matrix*. It was used to print Buddhist texts in Nepal long before moveable type. Look up The Cleveland Museum of Art to see more examples of this kind of printing.