Unknown Artist
- Title
- Reliquary box with lotus design
- Place of origin
-
Ancient Gandhara →
Pakistan
- Period
- Kushan period mid 1st century - early 5th century → India
- Year
- 1st century
- Media category
- Sculpture
- Materials used
- schist, contents gold
- Dimensions
-
8.7 x 8.7cm diam. [sphere]:
a - base; 7.3 x 8.7cm; height x diam.
b - lid; 1.4 x 5.3cm; height x diam.
c - gold piece; [preserved inside box]
d - gold piece; [preserved inside box]
e - gold piece; [preserved inside box]
- Signature & date
- Not signed. Not dated.
- Credit
- Bequest of Alex Biancardi 2000
- Accession number
- 28.2000.a-e
- Location
- Upper Asian gallery
- Further information
This rare box is in remarkable condition and still contains its precious relics, most likely because it was preserved inside a stupa. The contents are essentially intact and comprise the gold finial of a stupa (consisting of a square entablature, or 'harmika', and parasol), a small round gold box filled with tiny beads and rock dust, and a larger round copper box, the contents of which have been removed.
The Asian Collections, AGNSW, 2003, pg.28.
- Bibliography (3)
-
'Sensuous Spirituality: Hindu and Buddhist Art from the Indic Cultural Realm' by Pratapaditya Pal, pg. 80-87., Orientations Sep 2000, Sep 2000, 83 (colour illus.). fig.5
'Buddhist Art', The Asian Collections Art Gallery of New South Wales 2003, 2003, 28 (colour illus.).
Martin Lerner (United States of America) (Author), Steven Kossak (United States of America) (Author), The lotus transcendent: Indian and Southeast Asian art from the Samuel Eilenberg collection, New York, 1991, 77. cat.no. 43
