Artwork Page for Miniature Votive Stupa

Details / Information for Miniature Votive Stupa

Miniature Votive Stupa

小型石塔

435 CE

China, Gansu province, Northern Wei dynasty

(386-534)
Medium
steatite
Measurements
Overall: 16.9 cm (6 5/8 in.)
Credit Line
Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 1990.84
Public Domain
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Location
Not on view
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Did You Know?

There are trigrams, three horizontal lines, broken or continuous, above each of the eight bodhisattvas in the stupa's lower section.

Description

This sutra pillar, inscribed with a sacred Buddhist text, belongs to a group of miniature stupas (jingta) that were found exclusively in the Gansu corridor, Northwest China. Ranging in date between AD 426–36, some of them bear the names of the lay Buddhist donors who commissioned them. A stupa is an architectural round structure built for the veneration of Buddhist relics. Miniature stupas may have commemorated the visit of a sacred site or represented donations to religious communities and sites.
A gray-green steatite sculpture depicts a three-tiered cylindrical tower with dark brown marks. The dome-shaped top tier features petal-like niches housing seated figures with joined hands. The middle band contains vertical columns of etched text. The wider base shows standing figures carved into flat panels. Each section is separated by a raised lip, featuring detailed relief carvings of Buddhist figures and sacred scripture throughout.

Miniature Votive Stupa

435 CE

China, Gansu province, Northern Wei dynasty (386-534)

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