This portable shrine from the northern branch of the Central Asian Silk Road was probably the centerpiece of a three-part traveling shrine—a small triptych with doors. Two donors on the base venerate what appears to be a pot overflowing with vegetation. Such shrines for personal devotion traveled with merchants and pilgrims. While the Buddha, especially his hairstyle, can be related to Chinese imagery, the overall presentation of the figure and the combined halo and mandorla show connections to the Afghan and Gandharan visual tradition (see 48.66a, b).
This image cannot be enlarged, viewed at full screen, or downloaded.
Open Access
As part of the Met's Open Access policy, you can freely copy, modify and distribute this image, even for commercial purposes.
API
Public domain data for this object can also be accessed using the Met's Open Access API.
Dimensions:H. 14 1/4 x W. 5 1/2 x D. 2 5/8 in. (36.2 x 14 x 6.7 cm)
Classification:Sculpture
Credit Line:Fletcher Fund, 1929
Object Number:29.19
[ Edgar Worch , New York, until 1929; sold to MMA]
Osaka. : Japanese Association for the 1970 World Exposition. "Progress and Harmony for Mankind," March 15, 1970–September 13, 1970.
Nara National Museum. "Nihon Bukkyō bijutsu no genryū," April 29, 1978–June 11, 1978.
Nara National Museum. "Danzō: Buddhist Images Carved in Aromatic Woods," April 27, 1991–June 2, 1991.
Paris. Réunion des Musées Nationaux. "La Sérinde, Terre du Bouddha: Dix Siecles d'Art sur la Route de la Soie," 1995–96.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Glimpses of the Silk Road: Central Asia in the First Millennium," September 19, 2002–May 24, 2009.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Buddhism Along the Silk Road," June 2, 2012–February 10, 2013.
Priest, Alan. "Indian Sculpture." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin. Vol. 34, no. 6 (June 1939), pp. 152–58, fig. 2.
Priest, Alan. Chinese Sculpture in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1944, p. 38, cat. no. 38, pl. LXXX.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Art Treasures of the Metropolitan: A Selection from the European and Asiatic Collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Ar. New York: H. N. Abrams, 1952, pp. 195, 238, fig. 190.
Ingholtm, Harald, and Islay Lyons. Gandharan Art in Pakistan. New York: Pantheon Books, 1957, p. 40, fig. 24–2.
Pal, Pratapaditya. Light of Asia: Buddha Sakyamuni in Asian art. Exh. cat. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1984, p. 198, cat. no. 81.
Behrendt, Kurt. How to Read Buddhist Art. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2019, p. 58, fig. 37.
The Met's Libraries and Research Centers provide unparalleled resources for research and welcome an international community of students and scholars.
The Met Collection API is where all makers, creators, researchers, and dreamers can connect to the most up-to-date data and public domain images for The Met collection. Open Access data and public domain images are available for unrestricted commercial and noncommercial use without permission or fee.
Feedback
We continue to research and examine historical and cultural context for objects in The Met collection. If you have comments or questions about this object record, please complete and submit this form. The Museum looks forward to receiving your comments.
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.