id:			133068
accession number:	1955.49
share license status:	CC0
url:			https://clevelandart.org/art/1955.49
updated:		2020-11-04 20:42:26.428000

Seven Leaves from a Manuscript of the Gandavyuha-sutra (Scripture of the Supreme Array), 1000s-1100s. Nepal. Gum tempera and ink on palm leaves; overall: 4.2 x 52.4 cm (1 5/8 x 20 5/8 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 1955.49

title:				Seven Leaves from a Manuscript of the Gandavyuha-sutra (Scripture of the Supreme Array)
title in original language:	
series:				
series in original language:	
creation date:			1000s-1100s
creation date earliest:		1000
creation date latest:		1199
current location:		
creditline:			Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund
copyright:			

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culture:	Nepal
technique:	gum tempera and ink on palm leaves
department:	Indian and Southeast Asian Art
collection:	Indian Art
type:		Painting
find spot:	
catalogue raisonne: 

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CREATORS

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measurements: Overall: 4.2 x 52.4 cm (1 5/8 x 20 5/8 in.)
state of the work:	
edition of the work: 	

support materials:


inscriptions:

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CURRENT EXHIBITIONS

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LEGACY EXHIBITIONS

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PROVENANCE

	(Heeramaneck Galleries, New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
	date: ?-1955
	footnotes: 	
	citations: 	


	The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
	date: 1955-
	footnotes: 	
	citations: 	


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fun fact: 
Russian artist Svyatoslav Roerich (1904–1993) collected 144 pages of this manuscript in India.

digital description: 
These pages come from a long horizontal book of 355 palm leaves, now dispersed among many collections. Featuring the pilgrim Sudhana on his quest to reach enlightenment, the text was especially influential in the spread of Buddhism to East Asia. These leaves are from the sole surviving illustrated manuscript of this text in its original language of Sanskrit.

wall description: 
The main character of the Sanskrit Buddhist text from which these pages come is a pilgrim named Sudhana. As part of his quest to reach enlightenment, he seeks friends and teachers who will reveal to him the qualities of a bodhisattva—an ideal being of compassion. On the second leaf from the top, a bodhisattva is shown surrounded by clouds. Sudhana himself is featured in the remaining paintings, in the woods with wild animals and shaded cubistic rocks. He is shown reverently receiving advice from a Hindu forest sage. These leaves are from one of the earliest surviving illustrated manuscripts of Nepal. The paintings are rare examples of the fine and sensitive style of this period, with lilting lines, delicate patterns, and shaded hues. Originally from a long horizontal book of 355 palm leaves, now dispersed among many collections, the pages would have been bound into the book by strings running through the two holes in the center of the pages.
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RELATED WORKS

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CITATIONS

	The Cleveland Museum of Art. <em>The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook.</em> Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958.
	page number: 	Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 752
	url:		https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1958/page/n136

	The Cleveland Museum of Art. <em>Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966</em>. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966.
	page number: 	Reproduced: p. 233
	url:		https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1966/page/n257

	The Cleveland Museum of Art. <em>Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969</em>. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969.
	page number: 	Reproduced: p. 233
	url:		https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1969/page/n257

	The Cleveland Museum of Art. <em>Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978</em>. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978.
	page number: 	Reproduced: p. 296
	url:		https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1978/page/n316

	Mace, Sonya Rhie. “Clearing the Course: Folio 348 of the Nepalese <em>Gaṇḍavyūha-sūtra</em> in the Cleveland Museum of Art.” <em>Religions </em>2020, 11(4), 183.
	page number: 	Reproduced: Figs. 1-7, 9-11, 13-15, 17
	url:		https://doi.org/10.3390/rel11040183

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IMAGES

web:	https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1955.49/1955.49_web.jpg
print:	https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1955.49/1955.49_print.jpg
full:	https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1955.49/1955.49_full.tif