Halos and Mandorlas

Halo Alone

All halos

Halos as flat disks, common in the Ganhara period.

Buddha, 3rd century Pakistan, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province, Schist; H. 36 1/2 in. (92.7 cm); W. 11 in. (27.9 cm); D. 5 1/2 in. (14 cm) The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Purchase, Denise and Andrew Saul Gift, in honor of Maxwell K. Hearn, 2014 (2014.188) http://www.metmuseum.org/Collections/search-the-collections/646117 dp123360-halo 2009cb5752_2500-crop

Halos as free-standing rings.

dt5232-halo 2008.21.96, 123843 fs-7630_05-halo

Halos with a variety of decorations.

dp123364-halo 2006al5045_2500-halo

Halos with lotus and floral design.

2006bf8182_2500-halo

Mandorla

A mandorla is a representation of the aura around the entire body. It was often depicted with flames.

35 Buddha calling Earth, Nalanda, at the Patna Museum, Bihar 1980_526_1_224099-mandorla

In Sri Lanka it is often depicted in full color.

gri_96_p_21_b074_f001_001-straightened

Sometimes it has floral decorations.

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Halo and Mandorla in Combination

Sometimes both the halo and mandorla are included together.

ak-rak-1990-1 dt5225 fs-7755_44-crop2

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