Manuscript Cover Polychrome Wood Tibet

The manuscript carved in relief with Prajnaparamita seated in vajraparyankasana with her principal hands held in dharmachakramudra and holding the eponymous text in her upper left hand and a mala in the right, the sumptuous throne laid with a cloth falling over the stepped dais with lions crouching within its recesses, and a torana of fabulous animals rising to an apex with Garuda clutching snakes issuing from swirling water, from which makara emerge at either side, adoring Buddhas and bodhisattvas offering jewels and worshipful gestures at either side of the shrine, Shyama Tara and Mahashri Tara at either end of the central panel both seated in lalitasana within shrines, the panel contained by a string of pearls, denoted by silver paint, and bordered by scrolling foliage and a band of flames, the whole richly decorated with gold and polychrome.

The quite exceptional Tibetan manuscript cover is carved in the Newar manner and is one of the finest known examples of this refined and elegant style. The renowned Pritzker Nepalese Prajnaparamita manuscript, dated by inscription to 1200-1216, has covers painted with scenes including a shrine of the goddess with adoring Buddhas and bodhisattvas depicted in a remarkably similar style, see Pal, 2003, no. 26.