stupa BM-1887-0524.14

Period:Unknown Production date:18thC-19thC
Materials:bronze, gold,
Technique:gilded, cast,
Subjects:stupa
Dimensions:Height: 24 centimetres

Description:
A stupa in gilded bronze, decorated with a series of engraved animal and floral motifs. Ancient dome (in form of an inverted pot; with a niche) and spire (with the thirteen sections; crowned with the sun-moon and drop symbol; with pennants at the sides) elements above a stepped pedestal and indented rectangular base.
IMG


Comments:Used as a ritual object on an altar. Zwalf 1985Different in many ways from no. 198, this ‘stūpa’, probably also used as one of the ritual objects on an altar, incorporates, above a stepped pedestal and indented rectangular base, ancient dome and spire elements. Here the dome, in the common Tibetan architectural form of an inverted pot, has a niche which once held an image. The spire, with the usual thirteen sections representing the stages to Buddhahood, is crowned with the sun-moon and drop symbol of unified opposites and has pennants at the sides.