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Jain portable shrine for the Jina Parshvanatha
Jain portable shrine for the Jina Parshvanatha

Jain portable shrine for the Jina Parshvanatha

Dateca. 14th century
Label TextLike a miniature temple, this metal shrine held an image of a perfected being, the Jina Parshvanatha, whose meditating form would have been sheltered by a multiheaded cobra. Just below where Parshvanatha would have sat appear a row of small figures representing the nine celestial bodies—seven planets, the sun, and two forms of the moon. Like a king or deity, the jina (spiritual victor, perfected being) was sheltered by an umbrella, backed by a halo, and even bathed by elephants.
Object number68.158
Exhibition HistorySeattle, Washington, Seattle Asian Art Museum, Boundless: Stories of Asian Art, Feb. 8, 2020 - ongoing.
Credit LineEugene Fuller Memorial Collection
Dimensions9 1/2 x 6 x 4 1/2 in. (24.13 x 15.24 x 11.43 cm)
MediumGilded bronze, silver
Vasudhara (bodhisattva, the Goddess of Prosperity)
Nepalese
15th-16th century
Object number: 78.3
Shrine; Siva and Parvati
Indian
17th century
Object number: 57.125
Rishabhanatha, the first Jina, and other tirthankaras
Indian
first half of the 10th century
Object number: 50.58
Jain dancing girl
Indian
ca. 11th century
Object number: 64.24
Indian
12th-13th century
Object number: 67.88
Photo: Elizabeth Mann
Indian
ca. 1650-1900
Object number: 69.16
Portable shrine (gau)
Tibetan
17th-18th century
Object number: 65.95
Head of Buddha
Thai
15th-17th century
Object number: 33.1054
Head of Buddha
Nepalese
17th century
Object number: 74.2
Standing Shakyamuni at Birth
Chinese
late 14th- early 17th century
Object number: 93.23
Ekadashamukha (Eleven-Headed Avalokiteshvara)
Nepalese
13th - 18th century
Object number: 70.30
Photo: National Research Institute of Cultural Heritage, Republic of Korea
Korean
8th century
Object number: 56.116