Tibetan Buddhist Ritual Vessel ‘Kapala’
A Tibetan Buddhist Ritual Vessel ‘Kapala’ the Human Cranium Mounted with a Silver Band Decorated with Four Silver Skulls set on panels etched with scrolling leaves and studded with turquoise. The interior with a central silver rosette studded with a section of red coral. Old smooth patination to the skull
The skull 17th Century, the silver mounts 19th Century
Size: 8.5cm high, 15.5cm wide, 19.5cm deep – 3¼ ins high, 6 ins wide, 7¾ ins wide
The skull 17th Century, the silver mounts 19th Century
Size: 8.5cm high, 15.5cm wide, 19.5cm deep – 3¼ ins high, 6 ins wide, 7¾ ins wide
During tantric meditation these skullcaps are filled with a liquid called ‘the inner offering’, and this alcoholic ritual substance is visualised by the monks as having five corpses and five bodily excretions. The meditation transforms these into ambrosia, symbolic of the five delusions of the mind being transformed into the five wisdoms, and the five psychophysical aggregates being transformed into the five Buddha’s.
Tibetan Buddhist Ritual Vessel ‘Kapala’
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