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Amitabha Dharani Sutra - frontispiece with illustration
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Amitabha Dharani Sutra - frontispiece with illustration
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Title
Amitabha
Dharani
Sutra
-
frontispiece
with
illustration
Description
On the
fiftieth
anniversary
of his
graduation
,
Charles
R
.
Bennett
('07)
gifted
this
woodblock-printed
,
illustrated
Buddhist
text
to the
Bowdoin
College
Museum
of
Art
.
Dating
to the
year
975
, the
Amitabha
Sutra
is
probably
the
earliest
printed
object
in the
college's
collection
.
Consider
that the
world's
earliest
dated
printed
book
is
the
Buddhist
Diamond
Sutra
of
868
(now
in the
British
Library)
and that the
Gutenberg
Bible
hails
from the
mid-1400s
.
Mr
.
Bennett
,
who
lived
and
worked
in
China
for
two
decades
after
graduating
,
remarked
that the
sutra
was
recovered
from a
brick
of a
pagoda
in the
city
of
Hangzhou
.
Indeed
, on
September
25
,
1924
, the
famous
Leifeng
("Thunder
Peak")
Pagoda
collapsed
.
Erected
by a
regional
king
, the
Leifeng
Pagoda
stood
on the
southern
bank
of the
scenic
West
Lake
for
nearly
a
millenium
. In
2000-01
, a
team
of
excavators
revealed
an
underground
chamber
filled
with
gilt
silver
and
bronze
sculptures
along
with
artifacts
of
stone
and
jade
. In
addition
, the
excavation
confirmed
the
presence
of
bricks
with
cylindrical
cavities
that
once
held
printed
sutras
.
Bowdoin's
sutra
, not
quite
3
inches
high
but
almost
seven
feet
long
,
is
currently
mounted
as a
handscroll
. Its
condition
attests
to its
age
, but as
we
may
still
distinguish
from
right
to
left
a
dedication
, an
illustration
, and a
sutra
text
. The
dedication
tells
us that the
king
,
Wang
Qianchu
,
commissioned
84,000
copies
of this
sutra
to be
placed
in the
pagoda
in the
8th
month
of the
year
975
. The
illustration
shows
two
distinct
moments
. At
right
a
worshipper
kneels
at an
altar
table
placed
before
a
holy
triad
comprised
of a
seated
Buddhist
deity
and a
pair
of
monks
. At
left
, the
deity
appears
to a
beseeching
worshipper
.
Radiant
jewels
hang
from
above
,
fragrant
flowers
rain
down
, and a
splendid
stupa
is
placed
at the
center
,
giving
the
scene
a
sacred
air
.
Following
the
illustration
, the
text
records
a
story
of how
Buddha
once
restored
a
crumbling
pagoda
.
It
seems
likely
that by
placing
many
copies
of this
sutra
in
Leifeng
Pagoda
, the
king
could
ensure
the
building's
continued
existence
. From
text
drafted
for a
Bowdoin
College
Museum
of
Art
newsletter
by
De-nin
D
.
Lee
. The
entire
scroll
measures
approximately
3
"
x
7
'.
Woodblock-printed
,
illustrated
Buddhist
text
. To
view
the
text
that
accompanies
this
illustration
,
click
on
related
records
below
.
Country
China
Historical Period
China - Song Dynasty 960 - 1279
Date of Content
975
CE
IDEAS Topic
Arts
Arts-Calligraphy
Arts-Prints
Religions-Buddhism
Related Record
soclaa000487
,
soclaa000488
Language
Chinese
Work of Art, Original Location
Recovered
from a
brick
of a
pagoda
in the
city
of
Hangzhou
.
Work of Art, Present Location
Bowdoin
College
Museum
of
Art
Type
still
image
Format
image/jpeg
Extent
3753
w
x
376
h
,
72
ppi
Date Photographed/Recorded
7/23/2007
Permissions
Materials
may
be
used
for
educational
,
non-commercial
purposes
only
.
Acknowledgement
to be
given
to the
ASIANetwork-Luce
Asian
Art
in the
Undergraduate
Curriculum
Project
and to the
college
from
whose
collection
the
work
comes
. The
individual
college
retains
copyright
to the
work
.
IDEAS Collection
ASIANetwork-Luce
Asian
Art
in the
Undergraduate
Curriculum
Project
Institution Name
Bowdoin
College
IDEAS Identifier
soclaa000489
Collection Editor
Kucera
,
Karil
Image preparator
Sonnichsen
,
Amy
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