Provenance:
European Private Collection
Seated cross-legged on a lotus pedestal, Prajnaparamita holds a rosary in her upper right hand and the manuscript of the Perfection of Wisdom in her upper left, while her principal hands meet before the chest in dharmachakra mudra. Her four arms extend in a balanced arrangement around the upright torso, with long, curling ends of the scarf passing behind them on either side. The body is smoothly modeled, while the crown, jewelry, garments, and aureole are richly ornamented.
Her face is broad and softly rounded, with lowered eyes, elongated earlobes, and a small vertical mark between the brows. The high crown rises in several tiers of foliate forms, with small colored insets set into the metal, while large circular earrings and layered necklaces surround the neck and upper chest. Small colored insets also punctuate the jewelry and armlets. Fine engraved lines describe the borders of the garments and the patterned bands of the armlets and bracelets. Behind the figure, the scarf descends in long loops on either side before terminating in pointed foliate forms, while the prabhamandala is edged with closely spaced ornamental forms and a beaded inner border.
Prajnaparamita, meaning “Perfection of Wisdom,” is both the title of a foundational Mahayana Buddhist scripture and the goddess who embodies its teachings. As a goddess of transcendent wisdom, she occupies a distinctive place among Buddhist deities, with the manuscript she holds making her association with the text explicit. She is worshipped as a goddess in her own right, rather than simply as a representation of an abstract quality.
