The Collection
The American Wing Ancient Near Eastern Art Arms and Armor The Michael C. Rockefeller Wing Asian Art The Cloisters The Costume Institute Drawings and Prints Egyptian Art European Paintings European Sculpture and Decorative Arts Greek and Roman Art Islamic Art Robert Lehman Collection The Libraries Medieval Art Musical Instruments Photographs Antonio Ratti Textile Center Modern and Contemporary Art

Returned to lender The Met accepts temporary loans of art both for short-term exhibitions and for long-term display in its galleries.

Railing coping fragment with lotus bloom meander

India, Bharhut Great Stupa, Satna District, Madhya Pradesh

ca. 150–100 BCE

Not on view

The decoration of this coping from the enclosure railing at the Great Stupa at Bharhut is a testimony to the power of the lotus flower as a metaphor for renewal and regeneration. An embodiment of the life force in Indian religious art, the lotus bloom comes to evoke the purity of the Buddha, emerging radiant and unmarked from an impure world. Here the lotus vine is without beginning or end, emphatically asserting creation from the primordial waters. The principal motif on the coping, the lotus vine encircled the stupa in an auspicious embrace, instilling good fortune to all who walked the enclosure path.

Railing coping fragment with lotus bloom meander, Sandstone, India, Bharhut Great Stupa, Satna District, Madhya Pradesh — This image cannot be enlarged, viewed at full screen, or downloaded.

Railing coping fragment with lotus bloom meander, Sandstone, India, Bharhut Great Stupa, Satna District, Madhya Pradesh

Railing coping fragment with lotus bloom meander, Sandstone, India, Bharhut Great Stupa, Satna District, Madhya Pradesh

This artwork is meant to be viewed from right to left. Scroll left to view more.

This image cannot be enlarged, viewed at full screen, or downloaded.

This image cannot be enlarged, viewed at full screen, or downloaded.

Title: Railing coping fragment with lotus bloom meander

Period: Shunga

Date: ca. 150–100 BCE

Culture: India, Bharhut Great Stupa, Satna District, Madhya Pradesh

Medium: Sandstone

Dimensions: H. 16 9/16 in. (42 cm); W. 65 3/8 in. (166 cm); D. 9 7/16 in. (24 cm)

Classification: Sculpture

Credit Line: Lent by Allahabad Museum, Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh

Rights and Reproduction: Photo by Theirry Ollivier: cat. 9

The Met

Asian Art at The Met

The Met's collection of Asian art—more than 35,000 objects, ranging in date from the third millennium B.C. to the twenty-first century—is one of the largest and most comprehensive in the world.