an illustrated nepalese manuscript

4
An Illustrated Nepalese Manuscript Author(s): Coomaraswamy Source: Museum of Fine Arts Bulletin, Vol. 19, No. 114 (Aug., 1921), pp. 47-49 Published by: Museum of Fine Arts, Boston Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4169780 . Accessed: 16/05/2014 00:21 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp . JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. . Museum of Fine Arts, Boston is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Museum of Fine Arts Bulletin. http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded from 195.78.109.150 on Fri, 16 May 2014 00:21:33 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

Upload: coomaraswamy

Post on 12-Jan-2017

216 views

Category:

Documents


1 download

TRANSCRIPT

An Illustrated Nepalese ManuscriptAuthor(s): CoomaraswamySource: Museum of Fine Arts Bulletin, Vol. 19, No. 114 (Aug., 1921), pp. 47-49Published by: Museum of Fine Arts, BostonStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4169780 .

Accessed: 16/05/2014 00:21

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

.JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range ofcontent in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new formsof scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

.

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Museum ofFine Arts Bulletin.

http://www.jstor.org

This content downloaded from 195.78.109.150 on Fri, 16 May 2014 00:21:33 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS BULLETIN XIX, 47

40

a~~~~~~~~~~~~~~4

.9. .0.dIIC

C A

*~~ o~~5-~Z CZ (L

~~~uu

~~~~~~~~~~C

coc co-

4)1"- 4 , 0 -

I >- ..

CZ

,-

n

Inco - >

. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~~n0 0

=7 r-

S V Q

; 0 G *

cn c

U) CZ

O ~~~ ~~~0 CC(~) - 0

n CZ .,' , to i, =H a. , XCZo: 5S CZ = C Z

3 > 0 v U_ C)CZoo = Q * I, O =: mC ^- O

co . td v

'~~~~~~~O~~~~~~) ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Co 1.

QJ0 ct ~~~~

~~~ S~~0C 0 0 -'i : C) 0 o

This content downloaded from 195.78.109.150 on Fri, 16 May 2014 00:21:33 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

cj

z D

CJ)

z

Assault of Mara, and Temptation. Painted Wooden Manuscript Cover Nepalese, A. D. /136

Tara; 5, White Tara; 6, Yellow Tara; 7. Blue Dharmapala (Yama?); 8, Gautama Buddha; 9, Blue Dharamapala (Yama?); 1 0. Blue Dharmapala (Hevajra); 1 1, Yellow Tara; 12, Blue Dharmapala; 1 3-1 6, Four illustrations, the first almost certainly, and perhaps all, of the Ksantivadin Jataka;* 17, Yellow Bodhisattva; 18, Two worshippers before a book on a yellow stand.

The wooden covers measure .5 77x.075 x.0 1 m.; they are beveled on the outer sides, with painted lotus petal border and floral ornament in the remaining area; the inner sides are painted in brilliant colours (black, red, yellow, green, blue, white) with Buddhist subjects as follows:

Covers: A. Samantabhadra Bodhisattva, seated on a blue elephant.

B. and BB. The Seven Buddhas and Maitreya Bodhisattva.

C. Yellow Tara. D. Manijusri, Bodhisattva. E. Yellow Tara. F. Queen Maya in the Asoka grove

before the birth of Siddhartha. G. Mara-dharsana, the assault of Mara;

Gautama Buddha seated in bhumi- sparsa mudra. With the challenge and assault of Mara is combined the temptation by the daughters of Mara.

H. Nativity of Siddhartha. 1. Green Tara.

The manuscript is of primary interest as a

document of Indian painting. The technical accomplishment is very high; the manner is often reminiscent of Ajanta, and links the early schools of Buddhist painting with the later productions of Nepalese art (such as the temple banner of 1 7 1 6 A. D., described in the Bulletin of the Museum of Fine Arts, No. 106). An art related in accomplishment is that of the illustrated Jaina manuscripts of the twelfth to the sixteenth century; with Rajput painting after the sixteenth century, the affinities are not so close. As regards the subjects, not only do we find a well-developed Mahayana pantheon of Bodhisattvas and Taras, but also numerous Tantrik and many-headed forms of the same divinities, together with subjects, such as the assault of Mara and the birth of Siddhartha, which belong to the oldest traditions of Buddhist *Cf. Sarnath lintel, Marshall and Konow, Arch. Sur. Ind., Ann.

Rep. 1907-8, p. 71 and Pi. XX.

This content downloaded from 195.78.109.150 on Fri, 16 May 2014 00:21:33 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS BULLETIN XIX, 49

I.9A.

9

Ksantivadin Jafaka White Tara Text Illustrations: Nepalese, A. D. I /36

legend and art. The duplicate representation of Qiueen Maya in the Asoka garden is unusual - in one representation we see her previous to the birth of Siddhartha, in the other the birth is taking place, and in addition the Bodhisattva takes the "Seven Steps" - and may be dictated by considerations of symmetry. In the Mara dharsana the assault of Mara (who appears in his true guise of Kamadeva, the Indian Eros, loosing a shaft at the seated Buddha) is combined in one composition with the temptation by the daughters of Mara; both here and in the nativity picture we remark the use of the old method of continuous narration, which survives in Indian art at least to the end of the eighteenth century. In the Mara-dharsana scene the Olympian divinities, Brahma, Indra, etc., are seen in the sky, on the one side approaching, on the other in terrified flight. The composition of this scene is dramatically effective.

There is expressive gesture and fine drawing of

Subscriptions to the Museum Subscribers to the current expenses of the Mu-

seum are entitled to receive invitations to all general receptions and private views held at the Museum during the year, with copies of the Annual Report and of the bi-monthly Bulletin of the Museum. The subscriptions currently received vary from ten dollars to one thousand dollars. Checks should be made payable to the Museum of Fine Arts and addressed to the Museum.

Publications and Photographs In the office to the right after passing the entrance

turnstile the publications of the Museum and photo- graphs of objects in the collections may be purchased. The Leaflet Guide (illustrated, price 5 cents) briefly describes the contents of all the galleries and gives directions how to reach them. Inserts issued with the Guide note changes of exhibition since its issue

the hands throughout. The art is pitched in a high key emotionally, yet because of the greater reliance on formule it is less moving than that of Ajanta. The representation of the various trees those of the seven Buddhas and Maitreya, the Asoka of Queen Maya, and the palms in the central Tara group is particularly charming. The coloring is brilliant and intense, but excellently balanced.

In the present manuscript, the illustrated Jaina manuscripts of the fifteenth century, and the sixteenth century Rajasthani paintings of musical modes - all of which may be grouped together as illustrating the general character of Indian painting from the eleventh to the sixteenth century - the Museum possesses an unusually satisfactory repre- sentation of purely Indian art of a period of which the surviving documents are extremely few and important in proportion to their rarity, as well as for their high aesthetic interest.

COOMARASWAMY.

and contain plans of the building with the names of the galleries. The Handbook of the Museum (400 pp.; 300 illustrations; 75 cents) describes and pictures a number of the most important objects in all the collections. Postal cards of objects in the collections are sold at from 2 to 5 cents apiece. The bi-monthly Bulletin of the Museum, a chronicle of Museum affairs, is sent postpaid for 50 cents a year. A list of publications is sent free on applica- tion at the office or to the Secretary of the Museum.

The use of a wheel-chair in the galleries may be obtained without charge on application at the office. With an attendant the charge is one dollar per hour.

A public telephone may be found here, and the City Directory and Railway Guide may be consulted.

Letters may be posted and stamps obtained at the branch Telephone Exchange at the end of the corridor to the left.

This content downloaded from 195.78.109.150 on Fri, 16 May 2014 00:21:33 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions