11th - 13th century

Buddha Shakyamuni with His Life Events

Intricately carved from very soft stone, the small vignettes on the edges of this piece depict major events in the life of Shakyamuni---the historical Buddha---and correlate to important pilgrimage sites in India and Nepal. At the top, for example, celestial musicians flank mourners around Shakyamuni's deathbed (parinirvana) at Kushinagar. A Tibetan devotee probably acquired this work as a souvenir of a visit to one (or more) of these sacred sites. When the stela was brought to Tibet, the statue was worshiped by applying cold gold, delicately painting the individual faces, and consecrating the image (indicated by a yellow cloth seal on the underside of the base).