Artwork
Text, Folio 140 (recto), from a Manuscript of the Perfection of Wisdom in Eight Thousand Lines (Ashtasahasrika Prajnaparamita-sutra)
Text, Folio 140 (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 object is a narrow wooden panel, light‑brown and flat, bearing three blocks of densely written characters.
About this work
Overview
The object is a narrow wooden panel, light‑brown and flat, bearing three blocks of densely written characters. The script runs horizontally across each block, with modest gaps separating the sections. Small perforations are present near the top edges of the outer blocks, suggesting a method of attachment or suspension.
Subject & Meaning
The inscribed material appears to be a fragment of the Ashtasahasrika Prajñāpāramitā, a Buddhist sutra known as the Perfection of Wisdom in Eight Thousand Lines. The precise content of the excerpt is not deciphered here, but the text is part of a larger religious work that expounds on the concept of emptiness.
Technique & Style
The writing is executed with a fine brush or pen, producing compact, uniform strokes that fill the wooden surface. The choice of a wooden substrate, rather than paper or silk, reflects a durable medium often used for portable scriptural fragments in certain Asian traditions.
History & Provenance
The panel is attributed to an unknown hand, and no specific date or origin is recorded. Its association with the Ashtasahasrika Prajñāpāramitā links it to the broader transmission of Mahāyāna Buddhist texts across Central and East Asia during the first millennium CE.
Context
Manuscripts of the Perfection of Wisdom were widely copied for monastic study and ritual use. Wooden tablets such as this could have served as teaching aids, portable references, or objects of devotional display within a monastic setting.
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 139 (recto), from a Manuscript of the Perfection of Wisdom in Eight Thousand Lines (Ashtasahasrika Prajnaparamita-sutra)
Text, Folio 127 (recto), from a Manuscript of the Perfection of Wisdom in Eight Thousand Lines (Ashtasahasrika Prajnaparamita-sutra)
Text, Folio 39 (recto), from a Manuscript of the Perfection of Wisdom in Eight Thousand Lines (Ashtasahasrika Prajnaparamita-sutra)
Text, Folio 147 (recto), from a Manuscript of the Perfection of Wisdom in Eight Thousand Lines (Ashtasahasrika Prajnaparamita-sutra)
Text, Folio 145 (recto), from a Manuscript of the Perfection of Wisdom in Eight Thousand Lines (Ashtasahasrika Prajnaparamita-sutra)
Text, folio 170 (recto), from a Manuscript of the Perfection of Wisdom in Eight Thousand Lines (Ashtasahasrika Prajnaparamita-sutra)
Text, folio 54 (recto), from a Manuscript of the Perfection of Wisdom in Eight Thousand Lines (Ashtasahasrika Prajnaparamita-sutra)
Text, Folio 132 (recto), from a Manuscript of the Perfection of Wisdom in Eight Thousand Lines (Ashtasahasrika Prajnaparamita-sutra)