Artwork
Text, Folio 58 (verso), from a Manuscript of the Perfection of Wisdom in Eight Thousand Lines (Ashtasahasrika Prajnaparamita-sutra)
Text, Folio 58 (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 14 and is held in the collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art.
About this work
Overview
The work titled *Text, Folio 58 (verso), from a Manuscript of the Perfection of Wisdom in Eight Thousand Lines* is a painted object consisting of a narrow wooden board. Its surface is perforated with a dense, regular array of tiny holes that create a grid‑like pattern. Two modest circular marks appear on the board, possibly serving as handles or decorative elements.
Technique & Style
The perforated surface functions as a manual printing aid for reproducing Buddhist scripture. The evenly spaced holes would have guided a brush, stylus, or ink‑filled tool, allowing a scribe to transfer characters onto paper with consistent spacing. This method reflects a pre‑modern approach to mass‑producing text before the advent of movable type.
Context
The board belongs to a manuscript of the *Ashtasahasrika Prajnaparamita‑sutra*, a key Mahayana Buddhist text known as the Perfection of Wisdom in Eight Thousand Lines. Such copying devices were common in East Asian monastic scriptoria, where large volumes of sutra were reproduced for liturgical and educational purposes.
History & Provenance
The object is catalogued as a painting, indicating that the wooden board itself was treated as an artwork rather than merely a utilitarian tool. It is part of a collection that includes similar historical writing implements, such as those displayed by the Cleveland Museum of Art, which documents the material culture of Buddhist textual transmission.
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 60 (verso), from a Manuscript of the Perfection of Wisdom in Eight Thousand Lines (Ashtasahasrika Prajnaparamita-sutra)
Text, Folio 27 (verso), from a Manuscript of the Perfection of Wisdom in Eight Thousand Lines (Ashtasahasrika Prajnaparamita-sutra)
Text, Folio 58 (recto), from a Manuscript of the Perfection of Wisdom in Eight Thousand Lines (Ashtasahasrika Prajnaparamita-sutra)
Text, Folio 82 (verso), from a Manuscript of the Perfection of Wisdom in Eight Thousand Lines (Ashtasahasrika Prajnaparamita-sutra)
Text, Folio 83 (verso), from a Manuscript of the Perfection of Wisdom in Eight Thousand Lines (Ashtasahasrika Prajnaparamita-sutra)
Text, Folio 72 (verso), from a Manuscript of the Perfection of Wisdom in Eight Thousand Lines (Ashtasahasrika Prajnaparamita-sutra)
Text, Folio 65 (verso), from a Manuscript of the Perfection of Wisdom in Eight Thousand Lines (Ashtasahasrika Prajnaparamita-sutra)
Text, Folio 64 (verso), from a Manuscript of the Perfection of Wisdom in Eight Thousand Lines (Ashtasahasrika Prajnaparamita-sutra)