PERFECTION OF WISDOM SUTRA

MS 2494
MS Short Title PERFECTION OF WISDOM SUTRA
Text PERFECTION OF WISDOM SUTRA; DAIHANNYAHARAMITA-KYO; VOL. 194. COMPILED BY XUAN ZANG
Description Blockprint in Chinese on paper, Japan, 1383, 94 ff. (complete), 26x9 cm, 5 columns (20x9 cm), 17-18 characters in Chinese book script, frontispiece over 5 pp. depicting Sakyamuni, the Historical Buddha seated preaching.
Binding Blockprint in Chinese on paper, Japan, 1383, 94 ff. (complete), 26x9 cm, 5 columns (20x9 cm), 17-18 characters in Chinese book script, frontispiece over 5 pp. depicting Sakyamuni, the Historical Buddha seated preaching.
Context Volumes from the same set is in London: British Library, vol. 179; Tokyo: the Machida City Museum of Graphic Arts (vol. 334), and other major collections.
Provenance 1. Daijoji Buddhist temple, Hyogo prefecture, Japan (14th-20th c.); 2. Sam Fogg cat. 19(1998):158.
Commentary The set consisted originally of 600 volumes. Although this sutra is essentially a copy of a Chinese prototype, the maker of this Japanese version chose to decorate the cover in a purely Japanese manner, sprinkling gold and silver foil over the cover to create the effect of luminous drifting clouds. A similar design covers the thick paper wrapping, which opens to reveal hundreds of tiny gold and silver squares sprinkled over the inside cover. Such decorations were characteristic of paper decorations from the Heian period, and can be found accompanying many fine poems of the Heian and Kamakura periods.
Place of origin Japan
Dates 1383 AD