[Nepalese polychrome wood manuscript cover].

1100

"Depicting seven teaching Buddhas, with hands in dharmachakramudra, wearing diaphanous red uttarasangha, and maroon antaravasaka showing at the ankles, seated in vajraparyankasana, the heads with alternate red and blue halos, each with rainbow-edged prabhamandala, all set on a monochrome red background, with seated deities at either end wearing bodhisattva jewelry and fluttering scarves, seated in vajraparyankasana with similar prabhamandala and partially obscured by natural accretion from handling during ritual use."--Auction house's description. Title supplied by cataloger. Painted wooden cover for a Nepalese book. Himalayan Art Resources, 13630. From left to right, the cover depicts: Avalokiteśvara holding a lotus, seven Buddhas, and a final bodhisattva, possibly Maitreya, whose identity is unclear due to wear on the manuscript cover. Purchased from Freeman's Hindman, Chinese and Himalayan Works of Art, 26 March 2024, sale 1317 lot 306, on the W. Edward Archer Fund, March 2024. gebm.tm. Collection of Alexander Martin, Miami, Florida; Sotheby's New York, Indian, Himalayan & Southeast Asian Works of Art, 20 September 2021, sale N10749 lot 322; Collection of Mr. Stafford Elias, London, ca. 1960, and thence by descent.