Pair of Manuscript Covers with Buddhist Deities

Pair of Manuscript Covers with Buddhist Deities

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This pair of wooden covers protected the palm-leaf folios of a Buddhist sacred text. One cover has the nine Buddhist goddesses, each holding a staff surmounted by the wish-fulfilling jewel (cintamani), while the other cover has the five transcendental Buddhas flanked by four bodhisattvas. Painted on the interior, the iconography offers a protective field to the holy text within, in this case likely the Perfection of Wisdom text, the Ashtasathasrika Prajnaparamita Sutra.

Asian Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Pair of Manuscript Covers with Buddhist DeitiesPair of Manuscript Covers with Buddhist DeitiesPair of Manuscript Covers with Buddhist DeitiesPair of Manuscript Covers with Buddhist DeitiesPair of Manuscript Covers with Buddhist Deities

The Met's collection of Asian art—more than 35,000 objects, ranging in date from the third millennium B.C. to the twenty-first century—is one of the largest and most comprehensive in the world. Each of the many civilizations of Asia is represented by outstanding works, providing an unrivaled experience of the artistic traditions of nearly half the world.