Page 10 - Bonhams Indian and Himalayan Art September 2013
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A wood manuscript cover with the five tathagatas A wood Prajnaparamita manuscript cover
Tibet, 11th-13th century Tibet, 13th/14th century
The crowned tathagatas bordered by pearl and scrolling foliage motifs; With Prajnaparamita enthroned at the center holding her sword and
the left edge with floral pattern; the right with kirtimukha. displaying the gesture of reassurance, seated on a Newari throne,
4 1/4 x 13 7/8 in. (10.5 x 35.8 cm) flanked by Vairocana to her left and Shakyamuni to her right, similarly
$2,000 - 3,000 enthroned with distinct components, and with eight diminutive
tathagatas between, the borders with bead and vegetal motifs; the right
With Pala and Kashmiri features, the present lot belongs among the edge with partial stupa.
earliest surviving Tibetan manuscript covers. Stylistic commonalities 5 1/4 x 13 3/4 in. (13 x 35 cm)
include the thin waists and triple-leaf crowns bearing likeness to Kashmiri $1,500 - 2,500
sculpture, the swirling foliage indicative of Pala ornamentation, and
the pearl border reminiscent of Sassanian and Sogdian roundels. For The resplendent throne-backs and foliage here testify to the stylistic
a comparison of these features with similar examples in the MacLean influence of Newari artists on Tibetan manuscript covers following their
collection, see Sellig Brown, Protecting Wisdom, Canada, 2012, nos 1 & migration from the sacked Buddhist monasteries of India in the 13th
6, pp. 38-9 & 56-9. century. Selig Brown notes that in earlier examples these elements appear
as an integrated mass, seeming more segregated in later pieces dating
closer to the 16th century. Additionally, she identifies the lotus buds at the
ends of the throne-crossbeams as a datable component, being simpler in
form in the 13th century (Selig Brown, Protecting Wisdom, Canada, 2012,
pp. 27-32). For a closely related piece in an Asian collection also carved
with a stupa on its side, see Xu Tianfu (ed.), Faces of Dharma, Taipei,
2012, no. 124, p. 174.
8 | Bonhams
