Sealing Depicting Heavenly Palaces
Returned to lender
This work of art was on loan to the museum and has since been returned to its lender.The motif of the heavenly palace first appears in the brick temple architecture of northern India in the mid-first millennium. Heavenly, or celestial, palaces are found early in mainland Southeast Asia as part of the initial phase of Indic-style temple building. In this unique miniature depiction, Buddha occupies the central palace; bodhisattvas seated in royal ease occupy the subsidiary palaces. Below is a molded inscription citing the Buddhist Ye dhamma credo in northern Nagari script. The molding was found at a cave that served as a meditation retreat for forest monks near Songkhla in peninsular Thailand.
cat. no. 154
cat. no. 154
Artwork Details
- Title: Sealing Depicting Heavenly Palaces
- Date: second half of the 8th century
- Culture: Southern Thailand
- Medium: Fired clay
- Dimensions: Diam. 2 9/16 in. (6.5 cm)
- Classification: Sculpture
- Credit Line: Lent by National Museum, Bangkok (SV20)
- Curatorial Department: Asian Art