Reliquary

Description This model of a faceted "chêdî" probably served as a reliquary and was installed in a brick-and-stucco monument of the same shape. The internal construction, with a flat surface at the top of the base, suggests that a sacred deposit would have been placed at the foot of the faceted central or bell element. The origins of the faceted "chêdî" are obscure; perhaps it was an Ayutthaya response to the flat-sided reliquary tower of northeastern Thailand. On this reliquary, the main faces of the central bell element are broader than they are in the faceted masonry "chêdî" of Ayutthaya. Ornament of the sort that appears on the corners of the reliquary has not been identified; it may be characterisitic of a provinicial site.

Conservation

Date	Description	Narrative
2/17/1984	Examination	examined for condition

Exhibitions

• Unearthly Elegance: Buddhist Art from the Griswold Collection. The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore. 1995.
• The Kingdom of Siam: Arts of Central Thailand, 1350-1800. Asian Art Museum, San Francisco; Peabody Essex Museum, Salem. 2005-2006.

Provenance Bangkok (?); Alexander B. Griswold, Monkton, November 1955, [presented to the Breezewood Foundation, inv. no. 895]; Walters Art Museum, 1979, by gift.

Inscriptions none

Credit Gift of A. B. Griswold, 1979