Artwork
Text, Folio 106 (recto), from a Manuscript of the Perfection of Wisdom in Eight Thousand Lines (Ashtasahasrika Prajnaparamita-sutra)
Text, Folio 106 (recto), from a Manuscript of the Perfection of Wisdom in Eight Thousand Lines (Ashtasahasrika Prajnaparamita-sutra) is an unspecified painting by Unknown. It dates from 14 and is held in the collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art. The work is a painted fragment of a wooden board, measuring a narrow, elongated shape.
About this work
Overview
The work is a painted fragment of a wooden board, measuring a narrow, elongated shape. Its surface is divided into three rectangular panels, each bearing a passage of text rendered in a fine, decorative script. The wood’s light brown tone contrasts with the darker brown ink, creating a subtle visual hierarchy that emphasizes the written material.
Subject & Meaning
The inscribed passage derives from the *Perfection of Wisdom in Eight Thousand Lines* (Ashtasahasrika Prajñāpāramitā), a key Mahāyāna Buddhist sutra. The text’s spiritual content reflects the doctrinal emphasis on emptiness and the path to enlightenment, serving both as a devotional object and as a didactic aid for monastic study.
Technique & Style
Executed with ink on a wooden substrate, the calligraphy displays intricate flourishes and ornamental strokes characteristic of medieval manuscript illumination. The artist employed a restrained chiaroscuro effect, using tonal contrast between the light wood and dark ink to enhance legibility while preserving the decorative quality of the script.
History & Provenance
The fragment originates from a larger manuscript of the Ashtasahasrika Prajñāpāramitā, likely produced in a monastic scriptorium during the medieval period. Its survival as an individual painted board suggests it was detached, possibly for preservation or display, before entering a museum collection where it is now catalogued as a representative example of Buddhist textual art.
Context
In the broader tradition of Buddhist manuscript production, wooden boards were sometimes used as durable carriers for sacred texts, especially in regions where paper was scarce or prone to decay. The elaborate script aligns with the aesthetic conventions of the period, where textual reverence was expressed through ornamental calligraphy and careful material choice.
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 104 (recto), from a Manuscript of the Perfection of Wisdom in Eight Thousand Lines (Ashtasahasrika Prajnaparamita-sutra)
Text, Folio 106 (verso), 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 124 (recto), from a Manuscript of the Perfection of Wisdom in Eight Thousand Lines (Ashtasahasrika Prajnaparamita-sutra)
Text, folio 43 (verso), from a Manuscript of the Perfection of Wisdom in Eight Thousand Lines (Ashtasahasrika Prajnaparamita-sutra)
Text, folio 43 (recto), from a Manuscript of the Perfection of Wisdom in Eight Thousand Lines (Ashtasahasrika Prajnaparamita-sutra)