Nun and Noble Female Devotee

dated November 14, 1973

Not on view

This painting depicts two women, a nun and a voluptuous and bejeweled female devotee. The nun, with shaven head and brown dyed monastic robe, holds a bunch of white lotus in her raised hand, likely a gift from her devotee. The devotee holds an oil lamp in the nun’s honor, and a bunch of white lotus buds. The lavish adornment and fulsome physique of the laywoman suggests that she could be a celestial adorant (apsara), like those the artist studied in the early murals at Sigiriya and elsewhere in Sri Lanka. The background has Buddhist temple interior murals evoked in a grisaille-style monochromatic painting.

Artwork Details

Overview

Provenance

Title: Nun and Noble Female Devotee
Artist: L. T. P. Manjusri (Sri Lankan, 1902–1982)
Date: dated November 14, 1973
Culture: Sinhala
Medium: Watercolor on paper
Dimensions: 14 7/8 × 12 in. (37.8 × 30.5 cm)
Classification: Paintings
Credit Line: Lin Lougheed Collection, Gift of Lin Lougheed, 2016
Object Number: 2016.754.3
Rights and Reproduction: © Manjusri Family
Curatorial Department: Asian Art

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Artist, L. T. P. Manjusri Sri Lankan, Watercolor on paper, Sinhala — Artist
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