Minneapolis Institute of Art

Tree-shaped Fragment of a Royal Crown

KoreaLinkedCulture matchlcp-450814ad2ba0

Date: 7th-8th century
Medium: Gilt bronze
Department: Asian Art
Institution: Minneapolis Institute of Art
Object ID: 136493

From the Minneapolis Institute of Art record

Since the early years of Buddhism in South Asia, Buddhists have enshrined funerary relics in stupas, or burial mounds. As Buddhism spread to Northeast Asia in subsequent centuries, thousands of stupas—often tower-like and dubbed “pagodas’” in the West—were constructed, each embedded with bone fragments or other relics (sarira) housed within a multi-layered reliquary. Many of these sacred burials included precious stones and jewels as well as other sacred objects alongside the primary reliquary holder. This tree-shaped decoration, once attached to the band of a royal crown, is believed to have been buried alongside a pavilion-shaped reliquary (2019.21). Korea

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