Buddhist Ceremonial Alms Bowl
Nara period (710–794)
Not on view
Along with three garments, a stool, and a water strainer, the alms bowl was traditionally one of only six items that a Buddhist monk could own. While monks’ bowls were most often made of iron or wood, this bowl—cast in bronze, finished on a lathe, gilded, and supplied with a low stand—was probably placed on a Buddhist altar, where it would have been filled with offerings for a Buddhist deity. Its swelling body and the slight inward curve of its rim are typical of bowls produced in the eighth century.
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