Qing Imperial Palace: Sutra Box

CHINA, Beijing; Qing dynasty

The gilt sutra box measures 17.6 cm long, 9.2 cm wide, and 13.7 cm high. The Sumeru base is embedded with a ring of turquoise lotus petals, fringed with a scroll leaf pattern. The box is enclosed inside an imitation balustrade featuring openwork swastikas. On the long sides of the cover, there are images of the eight auspicious symbols against a delicate floral openwork background. The borders of the sides and top are inlaid with a key pattern, and the cover itself is decorated with amber, turquoise, coral, lapis lazuli, and clam shell. There are Sanskrit seed syllables on the top of the cover.
The sutra box contains Praises to Tara written in Chinese, Mongolian, and Tibetan using gold ink on blue paper. There are wooden panels above and below the text. The bottom panel features four warriors.