About the Talk
The excavation of the Piprahwa relics in January, 1898 – the most important Buddhist relic deposit ever recovered in India – immediately sparked enormous interest across the Buddhist world. Piprahwa stupa is located in northern Uttar Pradesh close to Lumbini, the site of the historical Buddha’s birthplace in western Nepal. The Piprahwa relics included the first reliquary inscription to credibly claim that it contained the remains of Sakyamuni Buddha. The speaker will examine this unique cache of sacred objects in the context of early Buddhist relic worship and emerging pan-Indian practices of honoring the Buddha.
About the Speaker
John Guy is the Florence and Herbert Irving Curator of the Arts of South and Southeast Asia at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, an elected Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, London (2003) and of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2016). He served as Senior Curator for South Asia at the Victoria & Albert Museum for 24 years before joining The Met in 2008. He has curated numerous international exhibitions and has published widely, including The Peaceful Liberators: Jain Art from India (co-curator, LACMA-V&A, 1994), Chola, Sacred Bronzes of Southern India (co-curator, Royal Academy, 2006), Temple Sculpture of India: The Art of Devotion (La Caixa Foundation, Barcelona, 2007), Shipwrecked. Tang Treasures and Monsoon Winds (co-curator, Smithsonian D.C., 2010), and a suite of major international exhibitions and accompanying publications at The Met: The World of Kubilai Khan. The Art of Mongol China (co-curator 2010), Wonder of the Age: Master Painters of India (2011), Interwoven Globe: The Worldwide Textile Trade 1500-1800 (co-curator 2013), Lost Kingdoms: Hindu-Buddhist Sculpture of Early Southeast Asia (2014) and Tree & Serpent. Early Buddhist Art in India, 200 BCE – 400 CE (2023).
Free and open to all.
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