Samyutagama Sutra, chapter 25, from the Jinsushan Tripitaka

Samyutagama Sutra, chapter 25, from the Jinsushan Tripitaka

Unidentified artist

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Sutra writing developed its own distinctive tradition of regular script in which individual characters retained the squat, fleshy proportions and compact strokes of early clerical script. In this scroll, comprising 325 columns of standard script, the emphatic thickening of vertical strokes also reflects the scribe’s knowledge of the Tang calligrapher Yan Zhenqing (709–785). Although the scroll is traditionally dated to the Tang dynasty (618–907), a Song date is confirmed by its provenance. The first line of text identifies the scroll’s place of origin as the Guanghui Monastery, a Chan (Zen) Buddhist temple in Zhejiang Province noted for its fine handwritten sutras and high-quality paper. The temple was renamed Guanghui (“boundless kindness”) in 1008, so the scroll cannot date before that year. Since Yan Zhenqing’s style was especially popular during the early Song, the scroll may be dated stylistically to the eleventh century.

Asian Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Samyutagama Sutra, chapter 25, from the Jinsushan TripitakaSamyutagama Sutra, chapter 25, from the Jinsushan TripitakaSamyutagama Sutra, chapter 25, from the Jinsushan TripitakaSamyutagama Sutra, chapter 25, from the Jinsushan TripitakaSamyutagama Sutra, chapter 25, from the Jinsushan Tripitaka

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.