Nepalese Gilded Bronze Shikarakuta (Small Temple) Chaitya

This elegantly-proportioned and finely-cast temple-like devotional chaitya (stupa) was most probably intended for a monastery or a household shrine. Dating from around the 17th century, the surface is gilded and also has traces of red pigment.

The chaitya sits on a square platform with snub-nosed makaras with elaborate tails at each corner. The bodies of four snakes wrap around the base of the chaitya and around each other.

The chaitya to is pierced and is festooned with strands of ‘pearls’. The lower section of the dome is cast with eight seated Buddhas.

A tall finial rises from the chaitya. Its crest is cast with a ‘jewel’ which represents the Buddha’s cranial bump or usnisha.

The form of this miniature stupa is modelled on the Swayambhunath stupa and others in the Kathmandu Valley.

See a related example in The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

The example here is in excellent condition with obvious signs of age. It has been cast in two pieces – the dome lifts off the vase. The base is open.