Shrine with fifteen gilded bronze images

This Tibetan shrine, with its fifteen carved niches, is for the display of sacred images. Such shrines are a common feature inside shrine rooms of temples and private residences in Tibet. The small triangular decorations on top are known as “piles of books,” a popular motif in the woodcarver’s repertoire. The production of Vajrayana shrines, as well as the commissioning of high-quality bronzes such as these, reveals how deeply the Vajrayana tradition had influenced Chinese religious thought and practice by the turn of the twentieth century.

All the images are from China’s Qing dynasty (1644–1911), were made between 1700 and 1900, and are bronze, gilded bronze, or partially gilded bronze. All are from the Avery Brundage Collection except 1995.2, which was a gift of an anonymous donor.