ST1263 SCHIST RELIQUARY

GANDHARA

2^ND – 3^RD CENTURY

H. 28 CMS, 11 INS.

A superb, finely sculpted dark grey schist reliquary in three parts, the base with seated Buddhas, ganas and adorants, the middle domed section with lotuses and incised decoration and the upper finial consisting of a four tiered parasol topped by an open lotus.

Reliquaries are receptacles for sacred relics. These might include corporeal fragments such as ashes, bone, nail or hair fragments of the Buddha or a disciple; sacred texts, coins or small items of jewellery.

For a similar reliquary in the Metropolitan Museum, New York city, see cat. no. 23 in Kurt A. Behrendt. The Art of Gandhara in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2007.  Also see the following link:

Reliquary in the Shape of a Stupa | Pakistan (ancient region of Gandhara) | The Metropolitan Museum of Art

For a second example in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, see no. 174 in E. Errington and J. Cribb (eds.). The Crossroads of Asia.  Exhibition Catalogue, Cambridge: Ancient India and Iran Trust, 1992.

Provenance: Private collection.