This bronze shrine (known as chedi in Thai) has elaborately moulded images of the Buddha on each side and finely incised decoration. One side displays a crowned Buddha seated on a double-lotus base on a stepped pedestal. His right hand is in the earth-witnessing gesture (bhumisparsha mudra). The figure is framed above by a stylised Bodhi Tree and three Buddha images. The gesture and the Bodhi tree represent the episode when Buddha overcame the evil Mara, who tried to put obstacles in his path to enlightenment. The other side has an image of Buddha standing on a lotus and his right hand closed in a fist against his chest. Lopburi was once an important Khmer outpost in Thailand during the 11th and 12th centuries and Lopburi-style images such as these were mostly likely inspired by Cambodian sculptures of the 12th and 13th centuries.
