A ROCK CRYSTAL STUPA WITH GOLD APPLICATIONS Southeast Asia, 19^th century. Made in three parts, consisting of a circular base, a cylindrical domed mid-section part, and a tiered finial. Applied with fine 22 Karat gold bands and filigree leaves.

While architectural stupas serve as places of worship, smaller ones are used as reliquaries and votive offerings. The veneration accorded a reliquary stupa is determined by its size, rarity and preciousness of the materials from which it is made, such as gold, rock crystal, or silver.

Condition: With wear as well as few notches and chips here and there. A chip reattached to the upper section. The mineral with natural inclusions.
Provenance: Ex-Collection of The Zelnik István Southeast Asian Gold Museum. Institutional art collection in Belgium, acquired from the above. Dr. István Zelnik, President of the Hungarian South and Southeast Asian Research Institute, is a former high-ranking Hungarian diplomat who spent several decades in Southeast Asia, building the largest known private collection of Asian art in Europe.

Weight: 501.9 g
Dimensions: Height 13 cm