Manjusri

Artist Namsang Lama (Nepalese, Dimdung clan, born 1985)

MediumAppliqué of silk satin and silk brocade, embroidered with silk and metal-wrapped threads

DimensionsImage: 30 7/8 × 22 5/8 inches (78.5 × 57.5 cm);
Overall: 69 5/16 × 39 inches (176 × 99 cm)

ClassificationsTextiles

Credit LineGift of Professor Kathryn S. March and Professor David H. Holmberg

Terms

Textiles
Nepalese

Object number2019.037

Label CopyThe ancient art of creating tangkas entirely out of silk fabric has its origins in appliqué techniques used to make saddle blankets, and continues to be practiced in Nepal. Namsang Lama created this image of Manjusri, the bodhisattva of wisdom, by piecing together silk fabrics that were then couched, or outlined, in silk wrapped horsehair. Manjusri, seated on a lotus blossom rising out of a pond, wields in his right hand a flaming sword that cuts through ignorance, while in his left hand he holds a lotus flower supporting a book of scripture.

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