State 04 · Majuli
Assam
Sanchipat manuscript painting
On Majuli, the river island in the Brahmaputra, the monasteries still make manuscripts the old way: bark from the sanchi tree, treated and cut into long leaves, then written and illustrated by hand. The proportions are unlike anything else in Indian painting — long, narrow and meant to be read.
- What we are sourcingIllustrated manuscript folios, and mask work from the sattras.
- Where fromMonastic workshops on Majuli and craftspeople in the villages around them.
- What we are still working outBark is fragile and the island floods. We will not list anything we cannot get to you intact.
- Likely price bandSmall folios modest; complete illustrated manuscripts are commissions in their own class.
One email when the state goes live. Nothing else, ever.
On the list
We do not photograph a single piece until we have sat in the workshop. This page fills up the week we get back.
In the meantime
Odisha is open.
Fifteen Pattachitra paintings from the villages around Puri, each one painted to order over three to eight weeks.