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Gain access to this incredible resource through either a monthly or a yearly subscription and search the entire collection from your desktop, compare multiple images side by side and zoom into the minute details of the images. Visit www.davidrumsey.com/amica for more information on the collection, click on the link below the revolving thumbnail to the right, or email us at amica@luna-img.com . Creator Nationality: Asian; Far East Asian; Korean Creator Dates/Places: Korea late 14th century Creator Name-CRT: Unidentified Artist Title: Illustrated manuscript of the Lotus Sutra View: Principal view Creation Start Date: 1330 Creation End Date: 1350 Creation Date: Koryô dynasty (918?1392), ca. 1340 Object Type: Decorative Arts and Utilitarian Objects Materials and Techniques: Book, gold and silver on indigo-dyed mulberry paper Dimensions: 106 pages; each 13 x 4 1/2 in. (33 x 11.4 cm) Description: This lavishly illustrated fourteenth-century manuscript, produced on mulberry paper dyed indigo blue and executed in gold and silver, demonstrates the standards of excellence for which Kory¿ sutras are renowned. Like most Korean illuminated manuscripts of this period, it is presented in a rectangular accordion format that facilitated reading. The text is the second volume of the Lotus Sutra, one of the most influential Buddhist texts in East Asia and, along with the Avatamsaka Sutra, the most frequently copied sutra in Korea during the Kory¿ period. The Lotus Sutra presents in concrete terms the essence of Mahayana Buddhism?namely, the doctrine of universal salvation of all living beings and the attainment of Buddhahood, the ultimate aim of existence. Read from right to left, the manuscript begins with the title, written in gold , followed by illustrations of episodes described in the inscribed text, executed in minute detail and lavishly embellished in gold. The illustrations are framed by a border of vajra (thunderbolt) and chakra (wheel) motifs, symbolizing indestructibility and the Buddha law, respectively. At the far right, the historical Buddha Shakyamuni, shown seated on a dais behind an altar and surrounded by bodhisattvas and guardians, preaches to his disciple Shariputra in the company of other monks. In the upper left of the frontispiece is a scene illustrating the parable of the burning house, which relates the story of a wealthy man and his children. The children are playing in the house, unaware that it is plagued by demons, poisonous insects, and snakes and that it is also on fire. Their father, in order to entice his children away from the danger, offers them three carts, drawn by an ox, a deer, or a goat according to each child's preferences and interests. When the children exit the burning house, however, they each receive a cart even more magnificent than they expected. This parable illustrates how "expedient methods" (the modest carts) c AMICA Contributor: The Metropolitan Museum of Art Owner Location: New York, New York ID Number: 1994.207 Credit Line: Purchase, Lila Acheson Wallace Gift, 1994 Copyright: Copyright ? 2002 The Metropolitan Museum of Art . All rights reserved. Rights: http://www.metmuseum.org/education/er_photo_lib.asp AMICA ID: MMA_.1994.207 AMICA Library Year: 2002 Media Metadata Rights: Copyright (c) 2002 The Metropolitan Museum of Art. All Rights Reserved AMICA PUBLIC RIGHTS: a) Access to the materials is granted for personal and non-commercial use. b) A full educational license for non-commercial use is available from Cartography Associates at www.davidrumsey.com/amica/institution_subscribe.html c) Licensed users may continue their examination of additional materials provided by Cartography Associates, and d) commercial rights are available from the rights holder. Home
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