Unknown Artist
Votive stupa with base
- Location
- Upper Asian gallery
- Further information
The stupa is probably the most revered symbol in Buddhism. Its shape is based on the memorial mound raised over the mortal remains of the Buddha Shakyamuni. For the early Buddhists, the stupa was a symbol both of the Buddha's Parinirvana (extinction) and of the faith itself. Images of the stupa abound in Buddhist art, in media as diverse as stone, bronze, crystal and gold. This formally proportioned stupa is typical in construction: a base, a hemispherical body surmounted by a 'harmika' (a square structure derived from the fenced enclosures of early shrines), and crowned by a multi-tiered umbrella.
The Asian Collections, AGNSW, 2003, pg.26.
- Place of origin
-
Ancient Gandhara,
Pakistan
- Period
- India: Kushan period mid 1st century–early 5th century
- Year
- 1st century
- Media
- Sculpture
- Medium
- marble
- Dimensions
- 23.0 x 11.9cm overall
:
a - lid; 20 x 8.3cm
b - base; 3.1 x 11.9cm - Signature & date
- Not signed. Not dated.
- Credit
- Bequest of Alex Biancardi 2000
- Accession number
- 27.2000.a-b
