Buddhist Amulet with Bodhisattva and Donor Artist: Unknown

late 9th–10th century CE

Asian Art

By appointment, Duffy Study Room
Medium

Ink and color on silk

Dimensions

8 11/16 × 8 5/8 in. (22.1 × 21.9 cm)
sheet: 8 1/4 × 8 1/4 in. (21 × 21 cm)
without mounting: 8 1/4 × 8 1/4 in. (21 × 21 cm)

Credit Line

Hobart and Edward Small Moore Memorial Collection, Bequest of Mrs. William H. Moore

Accession Number

1955.7.1

Geography

China

Culture

Chinese

Period

Tang dynasty (618–907 C.E.), Five Dynasties period (907–60 C.E.)

Classification

Paintings

Disclaimer

Note: This electronic record was created from historic documentation that does not necessarily reflect the Yale University Art Gallery’s complete or current knowledge about the object. Review and updating of records is ongoing.

Provenance
Initially excavated in Honan region--found folded in small bronze box 1 5/8 x 1/2" covered with green patina (box is in the collection); Jorg Trubner collection in Berlin; Edgar Worch, New York, 1930; Bequest of Mrs. William H. Moore (1858–1955), New York; Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, Conn.
Bibliography
  • Paul Copp, The Body Incantatory : Spells and the Ritual Imagination in Medieval Chinese Buddhism (New York: Columbia University Press, 2014), cover ill., fig. 2.3, 2.4
  • Eugene Wang, "Ritual Practice without a Practitioner? Early Eleventh Century Dhara?i Prints in the Ruiguangsi: Pagoda. Buddhism, Daoism, and Chinese Religion.," Cahiers d’Extrême-Asie 20 (2011), fig. 5
  • Katherine R. Tsiang, Esoteric Buddhism at Dunhuang : Rites and Teachings for this Life and Beyond, eds. Matthew T. Kapstein and Sam van Schaik (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 2010), fig. 13
  • Paul Copp, "Altar, Amulet, Icon Transformations in Dharani Amulet Culture,740–980," Cahiers d’Extrême-Asie 17 (2008), fig. 1
  • Elise K. Kenney, ed., Handbook of the Collections: Yale University Art Gallery (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Art Gallery, 1992), 296, ill
  • George J. Lee, Selected Far Eastern Art in the Yale University Art Gallery (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1970), 42, no. 63, ill
  • Louise Wallace Hackney and Chang-foo Yau, A Study of Chinese Paintings in the Collection of Ada Small Moore (London: Oxford University Press, 1940), 167–68, ill
Object copyright
No Copyright - United States
Additional information

Object/Work type

amulet, religious art

Inscriptions

Dharani or charm inscription surrounding Guanyin and supplicant (Wei Tanian), is in Devanagari script with a slight inclination toward vartula type (Sanskrit formula mixed with Tibetan sounds). Chinese characters appearing are repetition of donor's name.

Technical metadata and APIs

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