book cover

Scripture cover or glegs shing, of carved and polished wood. Since the Buddha is not depicted on this board it probably constituted the bottom cover, whilst 25.11.48/2, which exhibits a depiction of the Buddha may well have constituted the top cover.

Travelling monks and lamas would carry their most important scriptures bound with wooden covers like these to protect from wear and tear.

Collection Information

These objects are only a part of our collections, of which there are more than 350,000 objects. This information comes from our collections database. Some of this is incomplete and there may be errors. This part of the website is also still under construction, so there may be some fields repeated or incorrectly formatted information.

The database sometimes uses language taken from historical documents to help research, which may now appear outdated and even offensive. The database also includes information on objects that are considered secret or sacred by some communities.

If you have any further information about objects in our collections or can suggest corrections to our information, please contact us: enquiry@horniman.ac.uk