Buddha Shakyamuni and Scenes of His Previous Lives (Jataka Tales)

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This painting depicts a rare subject in Tibetan art, the life of Buddha Shakyamuni and his previous incarnations as told in the Jataka tales. These stories form an essential component of the Buddhist cosmology. This tangka has a Chinese inscription dating the work to the reign of the Wanli emperor (r. 1573–1619) of the Ming dynasty as well as Tibetan glosses identifying the scenes depicted. The presence of the glosses indicates that this tangka was made for a Tibetan client. Depicted around the central icon of a radiant Buddha is a series of scenes, each with mountains and monastic buildings serving as scene dividers. Both Jatakas depicted recount the bodhisattva’s self-sacrifice.

Asian Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

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.

Metropolitan Museum of Art