A PAIR OF PAINTED WOOD MANUSCRIPT COVERSWITH SYMBOLS OF SIXTEEN PILGRIMAGE SITES


SRI LANKA, KANDYAN PERIOD, EARLY 19TH CENTURYWith original applied metal fittings inset with glass. 2 1/2 x 24 in. (6.4 x 61 cm), each
|斯里蘭卡 康提時期 十九世紀初 彩繪木製護經板一對 These finely painted sutra covers depict symbols of sixteen pre-eminent pilgrimage sites in Sri Lanka, called the solosmasthana. Thirteen of these sites are stupas, represented in vivid red and ochre. The remaining three are the Bodhi tree at Anuradhapura, the Buddha's Footprint on Adam's Peak, and the reclining Parinirvana Buddha at Divaguha. Sri Lankan chronicles maintain that Gautama Buddha visited these sites, and most were memorialized before the Common Era. When discussing a closely related pair of manuscript covers, Listopad provides a full list of the solosmasthana in Phoenix Art Museum, Guardian of the Flame, Phoenix, 2003, pp.30 & 34. The exterior sides of the manuscript covers match one another in design and ornament, with delicately painted scrollwork and beveled edges of repeated broad lotus petals in the Kandyan style. In a rare occurrence, the covers have retained their ornately designed, glass-inset metal buttons which once secured the ends of a binding thread connecting each cover through holes in the manuscript's folios. The British Museum retains similar Kandyan buttons collected by a British civil servant between 1869-88 (As1898,0703.1700.a-e). This pair of Kandyan sutra covers compares favorably to another of the same subject held in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (M.91.300.3a-b). PublishedJanet Baker et al., Sacred Word and Image: Five World Religions, Phoenix, 2012, pp.62-3, figs.27a-b.  Exhibited Sacred Word and Image: Five World Religions, Phoenix Art Museum, Arizona, 4 January-25 March 2012 Provenance Private Collection, US, by 1957 Thence by descent