1st to 3rd century CE, a schist partial stupa, four sided square drum base with carved trio of figures in shaped niches in Greco-Roman style, surmounted by a carved stone dome with four carved Buddha figures in arched niches, comes together with a tomobako wooden storage box.

7 1/2 x 3 7/8 x 3 7/8 in.

Private Collection, New York and North Carolina

By descent from Ethel Novello, New York, New York
Gift from Mr. Harold Rogers of Tokyo, Japan to consignor's family residing in United States during 1950s.

Ethel Novello was an art collector and fashion designer in New York City. She specialized in swimsuit design, clothing contestants for the Miss World Pageant, and her designs were featured in various publications throughout her career. Ethel's brother-in-law was a professor in Japan, and through this connection she acquired much of the Asian artwork offered here at auction.

Ethel's family had a long-time presence within the New York entertainment industry. Her mother, Ethel Novello McAssey, was a Broadway dancer. Her uncle was the famous Armando "Toto" Novello, also known as "Toto the Clown." Based in the Bronx, he was a traveling performer and silent film star throughout the early twentieth century.

Stupas were included at temple sites in various sizes, they typically consisted of a cylindrical base, a structure called a drum, a hemispherical dome, and a finial. These stupas sometimes contained important relics, but also were representations of the axis of the world which worshippers would walk clockwise around, the rotation representing the Buddha’s life cycle.

Old losses to corners; rubbing and wear; loss of finial section at top.

$500 - 1,000