Minneapolis Institute of Art

Prayer beads and box

Tibet

Date

late 19th century

Medium

Burlwood and silver

Department

Asian Art

Institution

Minneapolis Institute of Art

In Tibetan Buddhism, prayer wheels are akin to rosaries, imbued with a powerful belief in the meditative repetition of sacred syllables, sounds, and prayers. A prayer surrounds the silver cylinder, while inside is a long, tightly rolled paper scroll printed with prayers and invocations. As the wheel spins with the aid of a suspended weight, the printed prayers are “sent out” with each revolution. The wheel’s rotation equates to the reading or reciting of each invocation inside the cylinder. Though Tibetans of every social rank use prayer wheels, the unusually large size of this one suggests it belonged to an upper-class individual or, more likely, a monastery. Asia

The authoritative record is held by Minneapolis Institute of Art. LinkedCulture surfaces this object and its connections; it does not alter institutional metadata.