Burmese Buddhist Shrine with Buddha Statue

Gold flames above, and glass flashing all the way down.

This Buddhist shrine with Buddha statue is from Burma, 19th century, in gilded wood with glass inlays. Burmese workshops were known for gilded and glass-inlaid furniture and altars made for Buddhist devotion. The seated Buddha rests one hand on his knee, fingertips reaching toward the ground, the gesture of calling the earth to witness. Openwork gilded scrolls rise around him. Below, a stepped pedestal narrows and widens in red and gold tiers studded with glass. Eighty-four inches high.

The tiers do the climbing, so that he need not.