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Description: | Watercolour of the shrine of the 2nd Celestial Buddha, Akshobya, at Swayambhunath in Nepal, by Henry Ambrose Oldfield (1822-1871), dated April 1854. The image is inscribed on the reverse: 'Shrine of the 2nd Celestial Buddha, Akshobya: on the eastern side of the base of the Temple of Adi Buddha at Sambhunath. April 1854', together with notes.
Dr Oldfield, who was Residency Surgeon at Kathmandu from 1850-1863, wrote in Volume II of his 'Sketches from Nipal, Historical and Descriptive...' (1880): "Round the base of the hemisphere or mound of the temple and built partly into its plinth, opposite the four cardinal points, are five large shrines, covered with copper-gilt, and each of which contains a gilt image, rather larger than life size, of one of the divine Buddhas...Above each shrine is a gilt toran...on which is represented in relief a figure of Garura standing upon a pair of nagkunyas, or mermaids, each of which is supported upon the coils of the tail of a grotesque sea-dragon." | License: | http://www.bl.uk/services/copy/permission.html | Rights holder: | British Library | Source: | Collect Britain | Creator: | Oldfield, Henry Ambrose (1822-1871) | Identifier: | http://www.collectbritain.co.uk/personal... | Language: | en-GB | Go to resource |
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