Text, folio 4 (recto), 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 Religious

Dominant colour

Text, folio 4 (recto), 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

You see a single page from a handwritten book, filled with neat black letters and a small red seal at the bottom. Tiny painted figures sit in rows, dressed in robes, with golden halos behind their heads. This page was made in 1119 by a scribe in a monastery in India, but it was paid for by a monk from Nepal. The book is a Buddhist text, copied by hand over many months. The red seal marks who owned it. To see more pages like this, look up The Cleveland Museum of Art.

The story of this work

Overview

This manuscript, consisting of 188 double-sided folios, was calligraphed by a scribe at a monastery in northeastern India, commissioned by a monk from Nepal.