The Wardak Vase
- Gallery: Room 68
- Culture: Buddhist
- Made in: Wardak
- Date: 178 (date given in inscription)
- Object type: reliquary, vase
- Materials: copper alloy
- Museum number: 1880.93
- Museum: The British Museum
- Collection record: British Museum website
- Image © The Trustees of the British Museum, shared under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 licence.
Listen to the free audio guide
About this object
Before you is "The Wardak Vase," a beautifully crafted reliquary vase made from copper alloy. It has a rounded body, a narrow neck, and an everted rim. Notice the decorative grooves around its middle and base, and the carefully placed bands near the rim.
This vase dates to around 178 AD and was made in what is now Wardak, Afghanistan, during the reign of King Huvishka of the Kushan Empire. Inscribed in Kharoshthi script, it records the placement of a Buddhist relic in a stupa, reflecting the Mahāsāṃghika sect's practices. The script includes detailed dedications and dates the event to the 51st year of the Kushan era.
Carved and cast using skilled techniques of the Gandhara School, this reliquary is a rare historical and spiritual artifact, preserved after being excavated in 1836.
See it in person
The Wardak Vase is on display in Room 68 at the British Museum on Great Russell Street, Bloomsbury, London — free to enter. Choose British Museum on audioguide.london and take a photo of it to hear this free audio guide in six languages — no app download needed.
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