- Title
- Sutra Box
- Date Made
- circa 1920-1940
- Medium
- Wood, lacquer, and gold leaf
- Dimensions
- 12 x 32 1/2 x 10 in. (30.5 x 82.6 x 25.4 cm)
- Accession Number
- M.75.57
- Collecting Area
- South and Southeast Asian Art
- Curatorial Notes
Sutra boxes were used to safeguard Buddhist manuscripts (sutras) as sacred objects when they are not being read by monks, viewed by visiting dignitaries, or serving as objects of ritual veneration. These ornate storage containers are often embellished with figural and geometric decoration, such as this example that depicts guardian deities and celestial worshippers amidst foliage with elaborate borders. Alternatively, they can be purely ornamental and devoid of figural decoration, such as M.86.188a-c.
- Selected Bibliography
- Little, Stephen, Tushara Bindu Gude, Karina Romero Blanco, Silvia Seligson, Marco Antonio Karam. Las Huellas de Buda. Ciudad de México : Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, 2018.
- Little, Stephen, and Tushara Bindu Gude. Realms of the Dharma: Buddhist Art across Asia. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 2025.
