A TIBETAN KAPALA HUMAN SKULL WITH WHITE METAL MOUNTS, EARLY 20TH CENTURY, the skull cap carved with symbolic roundels, the rim of the skull cap and skull mounted with a repeating border of skull masks, the lined skull cap hinged to reveal a flat top chased with the same symbolic roundel design as the skull cap, the jaw, chin, teeth, nose, eyes, eyebrows, ears and cheeks mounted, the forehead set with a red cabochon, the chin also set with a red cabochon, and the eyes mounted with glass, the white metal unmarked / untested.

16cm high x 15cm wide x 18cm deep

A Kapala, Sanskrit for 'skull', is a cup made from a human skull used as a ritual implement in both Hindu Tantra and Buddhist Tantra (Vajrayana). Many of the deities of Vajrayana, including Mahasiddhas, Dakinis and Dharmapalas are depicted carrying a Kapala, usually in their left hand. In Tibetan monasteries it is used symbolically to hold bread or dough cakes, torma, and wine instead of blood and flesh as offerings to these wrathful deities. The dough cakes are shaped to resemble human eyes, ears and tongues. A kapala is made in the form of a skull specially collected and prepared for its spiritual properties from either a Charnel ground (interpreted as the sky burial by Western society) or they are the skulls of donors, usually persons of special rank, wisdom or holiness. Only after meeting the approval of the lamas can a skull be made into an offering vessel for presentation to the divine beings. They are then elaborately anointed and consecrated before use in a monastery.