Fragment of a Prajnaparamita Sutra manuscript folio

Unidentified

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This painting depicts the personification of the wisdom text Prajnaparamita. She is represented in six-armed form, the central hands are held over the heart in a variation of the dharmacakramudra, whilst her upper hands display the sacred book (pustaka) and the thunderbolt scepter (vajra), whilst her lower hands hold a rosary (mala) and gesture boon granting. She wears golden jewelry on her body and a tripartite diadem adorns herhead, which is framed by a red halo. A girdle, seemingly of strings of pearls, secures her waistcloth, beautifully decorated with large red rosettes in blue hexagonal frames. Slender ribbons fly through the air, one supporting a blue lotus bloom and stem. She is seated in a mediation posture, enthroned on a golden lotus and she is encircled in a rainbow colored nimbus. Particularly noteworthy is the tonal modelling of the bodily forms, heightened with finely controlled orange-red lines. The swelling breasts and constricted waist are hallmarks of the Kashmir style.

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