Portable Shrine
Unknown Artist
c. 1500
Medium
wood with mineral pigments and metal
Dimensions
h. 25.4 cm · diam. 16.2 cm
Classification
Sculpture
Department
Indian and Southeast Asian Art
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
Andrew R. and Martha Holden Jennings Fund
Accession Number
1968.214
About this artwork
Carved from a solid section of a log, the shrine contains images of protectors of tantric Buddhism—a branch that developed in northern India and became prominent in the Himalayas by the 700s. The central figure in the top row is Padmasambhava (Indian, active in Tibet in the 740s), venerated as the founder of one of the four main Tibetan monastic orders. Incised on the exterior are images of protectors, mantras written in Tibetan script, and a sacred funerary monument called a stupa. Tantric prac...