MUROMACHI PERIOD (16TH CENTURY)

As the exhibition catalogue cited above explains, miniature pagodas, known collectively as sharito, were substitutes for reliquaries containing ash and bone of the historical Buddha. The reliquary here is in the form of a Wish-granting Jewel, a crystal globe containing tiny fresh water pearls enclosed by three bands of flames above a lotus platform. The dais rests on a tortoise, emblematic of long life. Originally it would have been housed in a small pagoda or cabinet in the Image Hall of a temple.