Pakistan

This large lion throne likely once supported the image of a seated buddha. Based on inscriptions on a group of bronzes like the one seen here, scholars have established a chronology of the royal house that ruled the area from the late sixth to the eighth century. This object’s inscription, located on a textile hanging between the lions, indicates that the principal donor was a queen of the Patola Shahis in the area of Gilgit in northern Pakistan, and it is one of the earliest Palola Shahi bronzes known to exist. Many of these bronzes eventually made their way to Tibet where they were influential.

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