Returned to lender The Met accepts temporary loans of art both for short-term exhibitions and for long-term display in its galleries.
Dome panel depicting a royal worshipper
India, Amaravati Great Stupa, Guntur district, Andhra Pradesh
Not on view
This panel from Amaravati is among the oldest portrait sculptures preserved from the Andhra territories. It depicts a Satavahana king with his hands in veneration. He is attended by a queen, a general (leaning on a war club), and women holding fly whisks and an umbrella. Although he lacks the other attributes of a Buddhist universal monarch—notably the elephant, horse, Dharma-wheel, and jewel—his royal status as a king at worship is clear. An empty throne in the fragmentary upper register references the Buddha’s presence. The donor inscription records the gift as from a wealthy woman who took spiritual instruction from the monk Budharakhata.
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