Artwork
Text, folio 3 (verso), from a Manuscript of the Perfection of Wisdom in Eight Thousand Lines (Ashtasahasrika Prajnaparamita-sutra)
Text, folio 3 (verso), from a Manuscript of the Perfection of Wisdom in Eight Thousand Lines (Ashtasahasrika Prajnaparamita-sutra) is an unspecified painting by Unknown. It dates from 1119 and is held in the collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art.
About this work
Overview
The object is a narrow wooden block, approximately the size of a folio strip, bearing incised text from the Buddhist scripture known as the Perfection of Wisdom in Eight Thousand Lines (Ashtasahasrika Prajnaparamita-sutra). The surface is uniformly covered with rows of characters, and the wood shows signs of age, with a brown patina and two small perforations near its centre.
Subject & Meaning
The engraved passage forms part of a larger sutra that articulates the Mahayana concept of emptiness and the ultimate nature of reality. As a fragment of a sacred text, the block functioned as a means to reproduce the doctrinal verses for study and ritual, embodying the transmission of Buddhist philosophical teachings.
Technique & Style
The text was rendered by carving the characters directly into the wood, a method typical of block printing in East Asia. The script, rendered in a dense, angular hand, reflects a historical calligraphic style that challenges modern readability, indicating an early stage of printed Buddhist literature.
History & Provenance
Although the precise origin is undocumented, the block originates from a manuscript tradition that flourished in medieval China and later spread throughout East Asia. Its worn condition and the presence of holes suggest it was once mounted or bound within a larger codex, and it now resides in a museum collection dedicated to Asian art.
Context
Block-printed Buddhist texts were central to the dissemination of religious doctrine during the period when manuscript production transitioned to mass printing. This fragment exemplifies the material culture of Buddhist scholarship, where wooden blocks served as reusable matrices for reproducing extensive sutras across monastic networks.
Artist & collection
Domestic Scene
Giacomo and Cardinal Marco, investing Andrea, Abbot of San Zeno, with his Benefice
The Nymph of Fontainebleau
Portrait of a Woman
Madonna and Child with Saints in the Enclosed Garden
Venus and Minerva
Family Group of Four on Sofa
Wall painting from Room H of the Villa of P. Fannius Synistor at Boscoreale
Text, Folio 4 (verso), from a Manuscript of the Perfection of Wisdom in Eight Thousand Lines (Ashtasahasrika Prajnaparamita-sutra)
Text, Folio 33 (verso), from a Manuscript of the Perfection of Wisdom in Eight Thousand Lines (Ashtasahasrika Prajnaparamita-sutra)
Text, Folio 32 (verso), from a Manuscript of the Perfection of Wisdom in Eight Thousand Lines (Ashtasahasrika Prajnaparamita-sutra)
Text, Folio 6 (verso), from a Manuscript of the Perfection of Wisdom in Eight Thousand Lines (Ashtasahasrika Prajnaparamita-sutra)
Text, Folio 31 (verso), from a Manuscript of the Perfection of Wisdom in Eight Thousand Lines (Ashtasahasrika Prajnaparamita-sutra)
Text, Folio 8 (verso), from a Manuscript of the Perfection of Wisdom in Eight Thousand Lines (Ashtasahasrika Prajnaparamita-sutra)
Text, folio 3 (recto), from a Manuscript of the Perfection of Wisdom in Eight Thousand Lines (Ashtasahasrika Prajnaparamita-sutra)
Text, Folio 9 (verso), from a Manuscript of the Perfection of Wisdom in Eight Thousand Lines (Ashtasahasrika Prajnaparamita-sutra)
Text, Folio 6 (verso), from a Manuscript of the Perfection of Wisdom in Eight Thousand Lines (Ashtasahasrika Prajnaparamita-sutra)