Symbols of Reverence — Ritual & Devotion : Artwork 11

A fully opened lotus at the centre of a circular field, the petals built in three concentric tiers outward, contained within a scrollwork ring border. In Buddhist temple architecture, the ceiling rose directly above the altar is almost always a lotus mandala: the devotee looks up and sees the flower opening above them, the petals radiating outward as if the sacred space itself is in bloom. The outer scroll border is the rumi-scroll pattern used in Ottoman architectural ornament on the borders of mihrab niches — two traditions meeting at the same formal solution.