PERFECTION OF WISDOM SUTRA; PRAJNAPARAMITA

MS 2342
MS Short Title PERFECTION OF WISDOM SUTRA; PRAJNAPARAMITA
Text PERFECTION OF WISDOM SUTRA; PRAJNAPARAMITA
Description MS in Chinese on blue- stained paper, Kamakura, Japan, 10th-11th c., outer sheet of a scroll, 27x44 cm, 17 columns, (21x33 cm), 17 characters per column in gold ink in Chinese book script.
Provenance 1. Buddhist temple of Dai Butsu, Kamakura, Japan (-1923); 2. Manly P. Hall; 3. Sam Fogg Rare Books Ltd., London.
Commentary The Prajnaparamita sutras were translated from Sanskrit into Chinese in the 5th c. 

This sheet was found rolled inside a standing figure of a Buddhist disciple at the temple of Dai Butsu, when the image was opened at the time of the great earthquake in 1923. This is part of a luxury MS using gold ink on blue dyed paper, also used in Europe from 4th c. to the Carolingian period for princely commissions, with gold script on purple or blue stained vellum.
Place of origin Japan
Dates 10th-11th c. v