Buddhist images. Gesture, mandala and journey

Mahavihara Master · early 12th century

Avalokiteshvara teaches a woman visiting a shrine. A surviving colophon names Queen Vihunadevi as donor. Pala Buddhist manuscripts joined teaching with gifts and religious merit. The anonymous master’s surviving manuscript is divided between New York and Lhasa.

Unidentified Tibetan painters · c. 1150–1200

The hand gesture identifies Vairochana, while the golden color and tiny vajra connect him with Vajrasattva. A monk-donor appears below. The monk represented in the crown was probably his teacher. Mantras on the reverse invoke the presence of those depicted on the cloth.

Attributed to Aniko · c. 1260s, mounted 2020

Tara is venerated as a savior who dispels fear. The corresponding mantra appears on the reverse, and a small monk-donor is placed beneath her hand. The painting is attributed to the Nepalese artist Aniko, who worked in Tibet. It joins an individual offering with a major devotional image.

Unidentified Tibetan painters · 14th century

The blue Medicine Buddha holds a medicinal plant and is surrounded by bodhisattvas and guardians. Tibetan devotees associated him with healing and release from suffering. Padmasambhava’s presence and an invocation on the reverse may connect the thangka with Nyingma practice. The inscription also preserves the donor’s prayer.

Unidentified painter, possibly Newari · late 14th–early 15th century

This painted crown was worn during monastic rituals and some ceremonial dances. Its five sections represent directional Buddhas. The museum suggests that a Newari painter working in Tibet made it. The paintings were experienced on a moving ritual object.

Unidentified Tibetan painters · c. 1375

Nairatmya dances at the center of a palace, while cremation grounds occupy the outer ring. The mandala organizes a contemplative passage through sacred space. Images of death relate to overcoming fear and attachment to the body. Such a painting was used within a practice guided by a teacher.

Unidentified Tibetan painters · late 15th century

The central figure is Avalokiteshvara in the form associated with the six-syllable mantra. Usually white, the deity is painted gold here. Bodhisattvas, protectors, and members of a monastic lineage surround him, connecting the devotional image with a tradition of transmitted teaching.

Unidentified Newari painter · 1513

An inscription connects this painting with a ritual in autumn 1513 for a patron’s household. Participants made numerous small clay stupas, consecrated them and deposited them in a sacred place. Ritual actions appear at the bottom. The image both participated in the ceremony and preserved its memory.

Unidentified Tibetan painters · c. 1500

Milarepa, a Buddhist teacher and singer-poet, sits in a cave among disciples. His teacher Marpa appears above. A long Tibetan inscription on the reverse recounts his life and helps identify this as an early surviving image of him. The portable thangka could travel with a practitioner.

Juran · 960–85

The monk Juran served the Southern Tang court and moved to Kaifeng after its submission to the Northern Song. The painting combines a towering mountain with wet ink and long fibrous strokes associated with southern practice. Different landscape methods meet as the painter moves between political and cultural centers.

Wu Bin · dated 1591

Wu Bin’s Buddhist holy men have unconventional, sometimes strange appearances. Their outward forms conceal spiritual achievement. The museum connects such figures with hopes of miraculous salvation during late-Ming instability. This is among his earliest surviving dated works.

Unidentified Korean painters · 1235

An enlightened disciple of the Buddha lures a dragon into an alms bowl. He is Segongyang jonja, number 464 in a group of five hundred arhats. Only about ten scrolls from the original series are known to survive. This single figure gives a measure of a largely lost religious commission.

Unidentified Korean painters · first half of the 14th century

Sudhana’s encounter with Avalokiteshvara provides the scriptural basis. Goryeo painters applied pigment to both sides of translucent silk, producing luminous colour. Gold costume patterns record the labour and materials invested in this Buddhist devotional image.

Unidentified Korean painters · late 16th/early 17th century

Kshitigarbha was revered for rescuing beings from hell. The Ten Kings of Hell and guardians surround him. As Buddhism spread more widely among ordinary people in later Joseon Korea, red and green replaced costly gold and lapis lazuli. More affordable supports also broadened access to devotional images.

Unidentified Japanese painters · 1200s

A narrow path leads between rivers of fire and water toward Amida's realm. The painting illustrates a teaching attributed to the Chinese monk Shandao. Its obstacles represent dangers on the way out of the cycle of rebirth. A memorable journey makes the religious teaching visible.

Unidentified Japanese painters · 1200s

Jizo descends on clouds toward a suffering person who has called for help. The bodhisattva appears as a monk with a jewel and a ringed staff. In Japanese Buddhism he is particularly venerated as a rescuer from hells. Lotuses and clouds make the descent part of a recognizable image of aid.

Unidentified Japanese painters · Kamakura period (1185–1333), 14th century

The handscroll recounts the monk Ryōnin’s life and the spread of his teaching. After a vision of Amida Buddha, he encouraged shared recitation of the nembutsu prayer. One person’s merit was understood to benefit everyone. Unrolling the work an arm’s length at a time revealed successive encounters and conversions.

Ike Taiga · 1755/65

Pilgrims visit a nun believed able to communicate with the bodhisattva Jizō. Taiga accompanies the scene with his own inscription. He renewed Chinese-derived literati painting through Japanese everyday life and humour. The marks may have been made with twisted paper dipped in ink rather than a conventional brush.