Nepalese Portable Shrine Enclosing Prayer Wheel

A prayer wheel with its own roof, and dragons at the eaves.

This portable shrine enclosing a prayer wheel comes from the Kathmandu Valley, Nepal, and dates to the mid 20th century. It is silver. In Tibetan Buddhist practice a prayer wheel holds written mantras, and turning it is held to carry the merit of reciting them. A broad canopy, chased with scrolling vines and raised script, rises to a lotus bud finial. Gold-toned dragon heads project from its edge. The drum is dense with clouds and knots around a red window, above a faceted base with a key-fret border. Eight and a half inches high.

Small enough to carry. That was the point of it.