Footnotes

藏中 十三世紀 彩繪木質護經板

Exquisitely carved on the outside and finely painted on the inside, this rare and early pair of Tibetan sutra covers would have been commissioned by a monastery or wealthy family to protect a sacred text of the Buddhist canon. Both the covers and the manuscript enclosed within are considered part of the Buddha's teachings, and are therefore greatly revered by devotees. The remarkable quality of the paintings in the present example testifies to the importance of Buddhist manuscripts in early Tibet.

Paintings on the inner sides of the covers are of matching style, both depicting Buddhist figures sitting against red nimbuses with thick black outlines, surrounded by dark blue backgrounds sparingly decorated with red flowers. One painting features the three Buddhas of the past (Dipankara), present (Shakyamuni), and future (Maitreya) – flanked by two teachers in sumptuous monastic robes. In the second painting, Chaturbhuja Avalokiteshvara, Prajnaparamita, Arapachana Manjushri, and Green Tara appear from left to right, each wearing luxurious garments and jewelry. On the outside, the covers are skillfully carved with the five Tathagatas (Ratnasambhava, Akshobhya, Vairocana, Amitabha, and Amoghasiddhi) on the first, and a talismanic Achala joined by a dear and a lion on the second.

The covers are painted in an early Tibetan style that clearly emulates the Pala tradition of Northeastern India. Similar backrests with scrolling foliate designs behind the figures are commonly seen in illuminated Pala manuscripts, as are the triangular projections at shoulder height (for an example, see Pal, Tibetan Paintings, Basel, 1984, p.46, pl.5). The occasional use of shading, particularly in the lotus petals and the folds of the two lamas' mantles, as well as the lithe and elegantly proportioned figures and their curvy, elongated eyes, can also be traced to India.

The present covers are closely related to a 13th-century book cover depicting Manjuvajra preserved in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (1998.75; Kossak & Singer, Sacred Visions, New York, 1998, pp.148-9, no.39). Both depict figures sitting against patterned bolsters in front of solid red nimbuses, with yellow triangles indicating a throne back. The lamas in both works are painted in pear-shaped silhouettes formed by voluminous mantles. They also share similar multicolored lotus-petaled thrones with white outlines, and floral backgrounds. The treatment of the lamas within the current lot also resembles contemporaneous paintings created in Central Tibet; see for example a c.1200 thangka of Taklung Thasgpa Chenpo (ibid., pp.91-3, no.18).

Provenance
Private Collection, Italy, acquired in the mid-2000s