H x W x D (top cover): 3.8 × 67.6 × 15.9 cm (1 1/2 × 26 5/8 × 6 1/4 in)
H x W x D (bottom cover): 3.2 × 68.3 × 15.9 cm (1 1/4 × 26 7/8 × 6 1/4 in)
H x W x D (text): 9.5 × 67.3 × 16.5 cm (3 3/4 × 26 1/2 × 6 1/2 in)
Type:
Manuscript
Origin:
Tibet
Date:
20th century
Label:
The Prajnaparamita Sutra explicates the wisdom that leads towards enlightenment. Here, the two wooden covers are brilliantly painted in vermillion ornamented with gold, and the design extends along the sides of the folios between the covers. This text can also be personified as a goddess, popular throughout the Buddhist world.
Provenance:
To no later than 1970
Princess Winchuk Dorje, of the Derge Royal family [1]
By 1970 to Early 1990s
Kism and her family, by gift or inheritance from Princess, Winchuk Dorje of the Derge Royal Family [2]
Early 1990s
Philip Rudko, purchased from Kism in New York, NY [3]
From Early 1990s to 2020
Alice Kandell, purchase from Philip Rudko in New York, NY [4]
From 2020
Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, gift of Alice Kandell, New York, NY [5]
Notes:
[1] According to Philip Rudko, interviewed by Joanna M. Gohmann on November 6, 2020, notes in accession file.
[2] Rudko reports that he never learned Kism's last name and is unsure if Kism did in fact have a last name. Tibetan individuals around that time were reluctant to share their family name -- if they had one -- when selling objects like this one, as items like this typically stayed within a family. Rudko reports that he first saw this object in Kism's possession in 1970, but it was not until the early 1990s that Kism agreed to finally sell it to him.
[3] See interview referenced in note 1. Philip Rudko, born just outside New York City in northern New Jersey, is a Russian Orthodox priest and art conservator, specializing in Tibetan objects. He works with the collector Alice Kandell as the curator of her personal collection.
[4] See interview referenced in note 1. Alice Kandell is a private collector, who for decades acquired hundreds of bronze sculptures, thangkas, textile banners, painted furniture and ritual implements. Her interest in Tibetan art and culture began during her college years, when she took the first of many trips to Sikkim, Tibet and Ladakh. Throughout her career as a child psychologist in New York, she continued to pursue her love of Tibetan Buddhist sacred art, traveling, collecting and documenting the art and culture of the region in two books of photography, Sikkim: The Hidden Kingdom (Doubleday) and Mountaintop Kingdom: Sikkim (Norton).
[5] The object was formally accessioned into the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Collection on December 18, 2020. See Acquisition Consideration Form, object file.
Collection:
Arthur M. Sackler Collection
Exhibition History:
The Tibetan Buddhist Shrine Room (March 12, 2022 - ongoing)
Encountering the Buddha: Art and Practice Across Asia (October 14, 2017 to February 6, 2022)
