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Sutra cover with dbU Chen script

Sutra cover with dbU Chen script

1736-1795

These luxurious book covers were woven when the Qing dynasty court had a close diplomatic relationship with Tibet. DbU Chen is a Tibetan script often used for printing and in manuscripts. The words are mantras—sacred sounds, syllables, or spells—for calling upon Tathagatha Buddha or for paying homage to peaceful and fierce protectors. Their exact meanings are not translatable because mantras are coded invocations that are kept secret except to initiates.
Silk tapestry
4 5/16 x 13 5/8 in. (10.99 x 34.61 cm)
Eugene Fuller Memorial Collection
33.559.2
location
Not currently on view

Resources

Exhibition HistoryNew York, New York, The Asia Society, The Word and The Image: Illuminated Buddhist Manuscripts, Apr. 9 - June 7, 1987.

Seattle, Washington, Seattle Asian Art Museum, Boundless: Stories of Asian Art, Feb. 8, 2020 - ongoing [on view Feb. 8, 2020 - Nov. 28, 2021].

Seattle Art Museum respectfully acknowledges that we are on Indigenous land, the traditional territories of the Coast Salish people. We honor our ongoing connection to these communities past, present, and future.

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