One of a pair of manuscript covers for a copy of a Dharani Samgraha

Object Details

• Label

  Traditionally, in much of Southeast Asia and the Himalayas, sacred works were written by hand on long, narrow palm leaves, stacked and secured by a bottom and top cover, usually of wood and often carved or painted inside and out. This format endured long after paper began to be used, as in these narrow covers which protected the pages of a seventeenth-century Nepalese manuscript. Although only the covers have survived, the paintings on them suggest that the manuscript was a collection of mystic charms (dharani). The interior of what was probably the top cover bears a row of seven female bodhisattvas flanked by two fierce protectors. The central image is Prajnaparamita, the Perfection of Wisdom. She personifies an important Buddhist scripture by that name, a manuscript of which she displays in her upper left hand.

• Provenance

  From between the 1940s and the 1960s

  George P. Bickford, acquired on the Indian subcontinent between the 1940s and the 1960s [1]

  To 2000

  Joyce and Kenneth X. Robbins, Potomac, MD, to 2000

  From 2000

  Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, given by Joyce and Kenneth X. Robbins in 2000

  Notes:

  [1] According to Provenance Remark 1 in the object record.

• Collection

  National Museum of Asian Art Collection

• Exhibition History

  The Art of Knowing in South Asia, Southeast Asia, and the Himalayas (March 25, 2023 - ongoing)

• Previous custodian or owner

  George P. Bickford (1901-1991)

  Dr. Kenneth X. Robbins (born 1943)

• Origin

  Nepal

• Credit Line

  Gift of Joyce and Kenneth Robbins

• Type

  Book

• Restrictions and Rights

  Usage Conditions Apply

  There are restrictions for re-using this media. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Terms of Use page.

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Keep Exploring

• Related Resources

  collections.si.edu

• Date

  1700s, 1650s

• Name

  Bickford, George P., Robbins, Kenneth X.

• Place

  Nepal

• Topic

  South Asian and Himalayan Art, Boar, Ushnishavijaya, Worship, Art, Ta?ra? (Goddess), Shakyamuni, Amitabha Buddha, Vajra, Bow, Tortoise, Prajnaparamita

• Culture

  Buddhists, Himalayan peoples, South Asians

• Object Type

  Books