20th C. Tibetan Skull Kapala w/ Nickel-Bronze Skulls

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Ancient / Ethnographic Around The World

By Artemis Gallery

Mar 12, 2020

Set Reminder 2020-03-12 10:00:00 2020-03-12 10:00:00 America/New_York Bidsquare Bidsquare : Ancient / Ethnographic Around The World https://www.bidsquare.com/auctions/artemis-gallery/ancient-ethnographic-around-the-world-4957
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• Lot Description
  Central Asia, Tibet, ca. early to mid-20th century CE. A fine example of a kapala, a ritual cup made from a human skullcap and lined with thin sheets of lustrous metal, in this case nickel-bronze. Lining the rim of the vessel are 54 petite skulls that bear enormous eyes and upturned grins. Kapala are ritual cups used in both Hinduism and Tantric (Vajrayana) Buddhism. The translation of kapala in Sanskrit is "skull." Though many kapala are adorned with precious metals, carved surfaces, and inlaid precious stones, this is a modest example which exemplifies humility in both life and death. Size: 7.2" L x 5.2" W (18.3 cm x 13.2 cm); 7.6" H (19.3 cm) on included custom stand.
  
  These beautiful objects are often made from skulls stripped of their flesh in sky burials, the compassionate Buddhist offering of the dead human form to local birds and other animals. Kapala and other ceremonial objects made from bone are part of the Tantric practice of reflection upon decay and the corruption of the corporeal form, as well as the desire to destroy the duality of attractiveness versus repulsion. Monks and yogis in this religion often meditate in graveyards or near the mountaintop sites of sky burials, surrounded by the unavoidable physicality of death. Although kapala may look to outside viewers like a disturbing fixation upon the grave - with much of Vajrayana Buddhism iconography focused on blood, corpses, and bones - they are actually a deliberate attempt to destroy the karmic hindrances that might bind a soul to this earthly life and prevent it from achieving enlightenment.
  
  Provenance: private J.H. collection, Beaverton, Oregon, USA
  
  All items legal to buy/sell under U.S. Statute covering cultural patrimony Code 2600, CHAPTER 14, and are guaranteed to be as described or your money back.
  
  A Certificate of Authenticity will accompany all winning bids.
  
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  #149659

  Condition

  Minor abrasions and indentations to nickel-bronze components, with darkening to skull cap commensurate with age, and some minor casting flaws, otherwise intact and very good. Nice patina throughout.
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