Untitled

L. T. P. Manjusri

dated November 14, 1973 · Watercolor on paper · Asian Art

This painting depicts two women, a nun and a voluptuous and bejeweled female devotee. The nun, with shaven head and brown dyed monastic robe, holds a bunch of white lotus in her raised hand, likely a gift from her devotee. The devotee holds an oil lamp in the nun’s honor, and a bunch of white lotus buds. The lavish adornment and fulsome physique of the laywoman suggests that she could be a celestial adorant (apsara), like those the artist studied in the early murals at Sigiriya and elsewhere in Sri Lanka. The background has Buddhist temple interior murals evoked in a grisaille-style monochromatic painting.

Artist

L. T. P. Manjusri

Date

dated November 14, 1973

Medium

Watercolor on paper

Culture

Sinhala

Department

Asian Art

Credit line

Lin Lougheed Collection, Gift of Lin Lougheed, 2016