Many-Jeweled Stupa Reliquary (Tahōtō shari yōki)

Description

Earthen mounds that marked the sites of interred relics in ancient India are called stupas. As Buddhism traveled through East Asia, the mounds took on the form of towers called “pagodas” by Westerners. This miniature tower, painted with Buddhist deities on the interiors of the doors on each side, likely once held items considered to be sacred relics. The deities on the doors have been tentatively identified as the four bodhisattvas of the sacred text the Lotus Sutra, and two Guardian Kings known as Niō.

Provenance

(Setsu Gatodo Company, Ltd., Tokyo, Japan, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art) (?–1982); The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (1982–)

Many-Jeweled Stupa Reliquary (Tahōtō shari yōki)

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early to mid-1300s

Accession Number

1982.8

Medium

wood and metal

Dimensions

Average: 68 x 34.4 cm (26 3/4 x 13 9/16 in.)

Classification

Sculpture

Museum

The Cleveland Museum of Art

Cleveland, United States

Credit Line

John L. Severance Fund