Votive plaque 

The oldest plaques come from India, probably from the 2nd or 3rd century, where pilgrims took them as souvenirs of their visits to important Buddhist sites. The small, light, easily portable plates of baked clay were brought by pilgrims to other Buddhist countries, where they eventually inspired local production. They were numerous in Myanmar and Thailand, where people placed plaques as offerings at sacred sites. In these countries, where Theravada Buddhism predominates, the central figure is the founder of Buddhism, Buddha Shakyamuni. He is sometimes surrounded by other smaller figures, and the scenes are often set in an architectural framework. Some plaques bear inscriptions, usually containing the name of the donor or the Buddhist mantra Je dharma hetu

Bhumisparsha-mudra 

Mudras are symbolic hand gestures used in Buddhist, Hindu, and Jain art. Depictions of the Buddha Shakyamuni usually refer to one of the legendary scenes from his life. In the art of Myanmar and Thailand, the Buddha’s most common gesture is the bhumisparsha-mudra, the gesture of touching the earth. It refers to the story of his temptation by Mara, the lord of the underworld of desire and destruction, and his army of demons, which took place shortly before the Buddha attained enlightenment, bodhi. With the gesture of his right hand, he asked the goddess of the earth to testify to his readiness to become the Awakened One, the Buddha. In the Theravada Buddhist traditions, the seated Buddha is most often depicted with this gesture, even outside the context of the Maravijaya theme, the victory over the demon Mara.

Jan Vilém Helfer 

(1810, Prague – 1840, Andaman Islands) was a Czech physician, naturalist and traveler. He studied medicine and worked as a physician in Prague. In 1834 he married Pavlína (née des Grantes, 1801–1881) and the following year the couple sailed for Asia. After working in the Middle East, Helfer joined the East India Company in Kolkata in 1835 and from the following year was assigned to geological exploration in Burma. In 1840 he died during an expedition to the Andaman Islands, struck by a poisoned arrow. He wished that his extensive (mainly natural history) collections be handed over to the Czech Museum. While organizing them, Pavlína met Count Josef Ditmar Nostic (1794–1871), whom she married in 1844. In 1873, her memoirs Johann Wilhelm Helfer’s Travels in Vorderasien und Indien were published in Leipzig. 

The insect and plant collections formed the largest part of Helfer’s legacy. From the archaeological collections of the then Museum of the Kingdom of Bohemia (National Museum), the collections of Buddhist sculpture and votive plaques originating from southern Burma were transferred to the Náprstek Museum.

Joe (Josef) Hloucha 

(1881, Podkováň – 1957, Prague) was a Czech writer, traveler and collector focused mainly on Japanese culture. He is the author of about 20 book publications, the first of which, Sakura in the Wind of 1905, was a success. In addition to Japanese objects, his art collections included objects from other Asian countries, Oceania, Africa, America and Europe. In 1924, he had their storage reconstructed in Roztoky near Prague using elements of East Asian architecture, a villa that he called Sakura, but due to financial problems he soon had to sell it. He then sold part of the collections in 1930 at an auction in Berlin. The largest part of the collections came to the Náprstek Museum through purchase in 1943 and as a gift in 1955. They also include sets of Burmese and Thai sculpture.