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Seated Jina Rishabha Enshrined, from a Jain Manuscript: Kalpa-Sutra

c. 1500

Medium: Gum tempera, ink, and gold on paper
Classification: Painting
Dimensions: Paper: 11.1 x 25.9 cm (4 3/8 x 10 3/16 in.)
Culture: Western India, Gujarat
Museum: Cleveland Museum of Art, Indian and Southeast Asian Art
Credit line: Gift of Mr. and Mrs. William E. Ward
Rights: Public domain (CC0), as the museum states it.
Who can see it: Teens profiles and older: its museum says too little about what it shows to place it for younger viewers. How works are placed

About this work

By the 1400s, paper had replaced palm leaves as the primary support for Jain manuscripts. Although binding strings were no longer passed through holes in the manuscript, since they would tear the paper, the location of the holes was maintained by means of ornamented gold lozenges. Followers of Jainism commissioned copies of sacred manuscripts in order to accrue spiritual merit for themselves and their families; adorning the manuscript with paintings increased the merit.

The main figure, painted in gold, sits in eternal meditative bliss, bejeweled to denote his success in reaching liberation. His long hair and the tiny, white bull beneath his crossed ankles identify him as Rishabha.