Buddhist Devotional Shrine

Qing Dynasty
City Museum, Luoyang

This spectacular bronze shrine also belonged to Kangxi's mother (see previous page). Its baroque elaborateness threatens to overwhelm the Buddha image at its center. The gilded Buddha is seated cross-legged upon a tall lotus throne, in bhumisparsha mudra, within a columned baldachin that is covered by writhing dragons cast in deep relief and surmounted by a horned dragon's head.