Sarira reliquary in the shape of a pavillion, 8th century
Unknown Koreanexpand_more
Gilt bronzeexpand_more
The Ellen and Fred Wells Fund, the Susanne S. Roberts Fund for Asian Art, and the Korean Art Fundexpand_more 2019.21
Not on Viewexpand_more
Since the early years of Buddhism in South Asia, Buddhists have enshrined funerary relics in stupas, or burial mounds. As Buddhism spread to Northeast Asia in subsequent centuries, thousands of stupas—often tower-like and dubbed “pagodas’” in the West—were constructed, each embedded with bone fragments or other relics (sarira) housed within a multi-layered reliquary. The present work is the innermost container of such a reliquary. Made of gilt bronze, it takes of the shape of a palatial building, decorated at the base with downturned lotus petals and a lavishly adorned, detachable roof. Inside is a small, lotus-shaped rest for the container that would have held the actual relics. Based on other extant Korean reliquaries from this period, the missing container was likely a glass jar or bottle. This inner reliquary would itself have been housed in a larger casket made of gilt bronze or stone and embedded within a pagoda on the precincts of a temple.
Details
- Title
- Sarira reliquary in the shape of a pavillion
- Role
- Artist
- Accession Number
- 2019.21
- Curator Approved
This record has been reviewed by our curatorial staff but may be incomplete. These records are frequently revised and enhanced. If you notice a mistake or have additional information about this object, please email collectionsdata@artsmia.org.
Does something look wrong with this image? Let us know
Zoom in on the left to the detail you'd like to save. Click 'Save detail' and wait until the image updates. Right click the image to 'save image as' or copy link, or click the image to open in a new tab.