Page 214 - 2021 March 16th Japanese and Korean Art, Christie's New York City

253 A GILT-BRONZE RELIQUARY CASKET

UNIFIED SILLA DYNASTY (8TH CENTURY)

The square reliquary casket with a roof-shaped
lid, finely designed with lotus flowers, clouds,
bead-chains and incised details, the lid set
with a lotus flower finial and the interior with a
floral pedestal to hold a glass sarira bottle now
missing
4√ in. (12.4 cm.) high

$30,000-40,000

PROVENANCE:
Private Collection, Osaka, Japan, in the 1950s
There is a nearly identical gold reliquary Baekje Kingdom
(c. 18 BC-AD 660) discovered during the dismantling
and rebuilding of the Five-story pagoda in Wanggung-ri
in 1965 in the collection of National Museum of Korea,
Seoul (fig.1).

Sarira Reliquaries from the Five-story Stone
Pagoda in Wanggung-ri. Korea, Unified Silla
Period, 7th century. National Museum of Korea,
Sinsu 2123