Ask the Scholar
Document scope · 1 page
Scholar
Ask about this object, its catalog metadata, its source description, or the page inventory.
For page-specific OCR and visual context, open one of the page chats.
Source Description
The setting, with beasts and floating skulls in a desolate landscape, focuses the mind of the meditator (or the initiate in a ceremony) upon mortality, and hence upon the eternal. Within the circle is a view of our world, seen from above (a sacred, imaginary conception, but based upon reality). The four continents are represented by groups of three buildings. India, the southern continent, appears on the left. Between the continents and Mt. Meru are seven concentric oceans and mountain ranges. Mt. Meru rises in the center. One heaven stands on its slopes, a second lies at its summit, and four float above it.
Scholar Source Context
Document identity
localId
19799
label
Cosmic Mount Meru
core
obj
dtoType
drawing
citationUrl
pageCount
1
Source metadata
id
19799
sourceUrl
contentType
drawing
stage
normalized
title
Cosmic Mount Meru
description
The setting, with beasts and floating skulls in a desolate landscape, focuses the mind of the meditator (or the initiate in a ceremony) upon mortality, and hence upon the eternal. Within the circle is a view of our world, seen from above (a sacred, imaginary conception, but based upon reality). The four continents are represented by groups of three buildings. India, the southern continent, appears on the left. Between the continents and Mt. Meru are seven concentric oceans and mountain ranges. Mt. Meru rises in the center. One heaven stands on its slopes, a second lies at its summit, and four float above it.
provenance
Jon Rüs, Atlanta, Georgia [date and mode of acquisition unknown]; John and Berthe Ford, Baltimore, 1978 [mode of acquisition unknown]; Walters Art Museum, 2008, by gift.
date
18th century
citationUrl
rightsUri
CC0
language
en
genreSpecific
Painting & Drawing
tangkas
tankas
thangkas
thankas
imageCount
1
pageCount
1
source
import
dimensions
units
cm
width
115.6
height
70.5
dimensionsRaw
H: 45 1/2 x W: 27 3/4 in. (115.6 x 70.5 cm); Framed H: 47 3/4 × W: 29 5/8 × D: 1 1/2 in. (121.29 × 75.25 × 3.81 cm)
Source extras
med
appliqué and embroidery with silk
creator_ids
6238
6868
collection_ids
CHN
INT
exhibition_ids
2097
3321
2071
Single page context
seq
1
pageIndex
0
type
photo
mediaId
e50eb1ee0f19590f