Wenshu, Bodhisattva of Wisdom at a Writing Table

Many of China's oldest and best-preserved timber-frame Buddhist temples stand in Shanxi province. These architectural complexes consist of numerous halls housing sacred images of Buddhas, bodhisattvas, and other deities. The temples' interior walls often bore painted murals depicting groups of deities and patrons or illustrations of Buddhist scriptures. The Art Museum's mural fragment, executed on a preparation of mud mixed with straw overlaid with clay sizing, comes from one such structure: the lower monastery of the Guangshengsi (Temple of Vast Triumph), located near Zhaocheng in the Fen River valley of Shanxi province.

This wall painting depicts Wenshu, the Bodhisattva of Wisdom, receiving the mantra or scriptures from Tejaprabha, the celestial Buddha who protects against natural disasters. Seated in an elaborate throne-like chair at his writing table, Wenshu awaits the Buddha's revelation, symbolized by the flaming orb behind his head. The writing implements of a Chinese scholar lie on his desk: a brush holder with a second brush, a pile of books, an extra scroll, an ink stone with ink stick, and a water dropper. Next to the desk, a vermillion-skinned servant holds a bundle of scrolls. As the Bodhisattva of Wisdom, Wenshu was an important patron for Chinese civil service candidates who sought high-level government appointment by earning the coveted jinshi degree.