A bronze and crystal reliquary

MUROMACHI PERIOD (16TH CENTURY)

细节

A bronze and crystal reliquary
Muromachi Period (16th Century)
Formed as a tortoise on a rocky outcropping lapped by waves and supporting on its back a lotus-form base, further surmounted by a crystal jewel enveloped in three bands of flames and containing fresh water pearls
10¼in. (26cm.) high

出版

PUBLISHED:
Howard A. Link, ed., Asian Orientations: Treasures from Honolulu's Oriental Art Society, exh. cat. (Honolulu: Oriental Art Society of Hawaii and the Honolulu Academy of Arts, 1985), no. 64.

展览

Honolulu Academy of Arts, Honolulu, Hawaii, "Asian Orientations: Treasures from Honolulu's Oriental Art Society," 1985.7.11--8.22, no. 64

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拍品专文

As the exhibition catalogue cited above explains, miniature pagodas, known collectively as sharito, were substitutes for reliquaries containing ash and bone of the historical Buddha. The reliquary here is in the form of a Wish-granting Jewel, a crystal globe containing tiny fresh water pearls enclosed by three bands of flames above a lotus platform. The dais rests on a tortoise, emblematic of long life. Originally it would have been housed in a small pagoda or cabinet in the Image Hall of a temple.