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Alms Bowl
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art. Free to download, adapt and use — no permission needed.
About this work
Alms bowls used by Buddhist monks to receive donations have traditionally been made of iron or wood. This bowl, made of gilt bronze and decorated with incised designs of birds and flowers in roundels as well as butterflies, is instead a luxury item likely meant for a Buddhist altar, where it would have contained offerings for a Buddhist deity.
Cleveland Museum of Art’s own descriptionCredit lineAlms Bowl, c. 900s. Japan, Heian period (794–1185). Gilt bronze; overall: 12.8 x 23.8 cm (5 1/16 x 9 3/8 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund, 1949.156
