Prayer wheel

Tibet

18th-19th century

Silver, wood, and paper

Minneapolis Institute of Art

A Tibetan prayer wheel made of silver, gold, wood, and paper stands upright on a wooden base. The cylindrical body of the wheel is decorated with ornate patterns and what appear to be Tibetan script. In Tibetan Buddhism, prayer wheels are something like Catholic rosaries, functioning as aids to the meditative repetition of sacred syllables, sounds, and prayers. An embossed prayer surrounds the silver cylinder, while inside is a long, tightly rolled paper scroll printed with prayers and invocations. As a practitioner flexes their wrist, the suspended weight helps the wheel spin, causing the printed prayers within to be metaphorically “sent out” with each revolution. Though Tibetans of every social rank use prayer wheels, the unusually large size of this one suggests it belonged to an upper-class individual or, more likely, a mona