Taima Mandala

Description

This painting is a copy after an 8th-century woven mandala belonging to the temple Taimadera. The composition is based on a sacred text that describes the Buddha Shakyamuni’s explanation of Amida’s Pure Land to Queen Vaidehi, as well as his instructions to her on visual meditation upon the Pure Land. The Pure Land appears at the center of the painting. To the left is the story of Queen Vaidehi’s encounter with Shakyamuni, and to the right are the scenes she is given to visualize. The bottom illustrates the nine levels of birth that can be attained in the Pure Land.

Provenance

(Neston Ltd., Kowloon, Hong Kong, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art) (?-1990); The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (1990-)

Taima Mandala

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early 1300s

Accession Number

1990.82

Medium

hanging scroll; ink, color, and gold on silk

Dimensions

Painting: 135.6 x 140.3 cm (53 3/8 x 55 1/4 in.); Mounted: 170.5 x 203.2 cm (67 1/8 x 80 in.)

Classification

Painting

Museum

The Cleveland Museum of Art

Cleveland, United States

Credit Line

Severance and Greta Millikin Purchase Fund