Crowned Naga-Protected Buddha

Description During one of the weeks following his enlightenment, the Buddha Shakyamuni was sheltered from the rain by a serpent known as a "naga." In Cambodia, the naga, in the form of a multi-headed hooded cobra, was considered to be the spirit of the irrigating rivers and canals as well as a rainbow-bridge to heaven. This sculpture is carved from arkosic wacke, a type of sandstone rich in the mineral feldspar, which gives it a crystalline quality.

Conservation

Date	Description	Narrative
12/31/1969	Technical Report	other
6/22/1994	Treatment	cleaned; other
6/27/1994	Examination	examined for condition

Exhibitions

• Unearthly Elegance: Buddhist Art from the Griswold Collection. The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore. 1995.

Provenance Luang Ban, Bangkok; Alexander B. Griswold, Monkton, Maryland, 1948 or earlier [1]; by bequest to Walters Art Museum, 1992. [1] Presented to the Breezewood Foundation, December 1960, inv. no. 445, from foundation records: "Not from Lopburi but from Angkor Wat."

Credit Bequest of A. B. Griswold, 1992