明 織錦經面|Sutra Cover

Unknown

16th century · Plain-weave silk with supplementary weft patterning · Asian Art

Sutras printed in the accordion-fold format were often encased by covers wrapped in decorative silks. Covers both protected the sacred words and presented the sutras in beautiful envelopes that signaled the importance of the contents within. These examples from the sixteenth century indicate the variety of sutra cover motifs, including some seemingly irrelevant to Buddhist philosophy, such as dragons, phoenixes, or the character shou, meaning longevity

Artist

Unknown

Date

16th century

Medium

Plain-weave silk with supplementary weft patterning

Culture

China

Department

Asian Art

Credit line

Rogers Fund, 1946