Nepalese Kapala or Ritual Skull Vessel on Stand

A skull cup, in metal, wrapped in scrolling gold.

This kapala, or ritual skull vessel on stand, comes from the Kathmandu Valley in Nepal and is contemporary, in repousse gold and silver. In Tantric Buddhist practice a kapala, traditionally made from a human skull, is placed on altars and used by practitioners to hold offerings, and it stands for impermanence. This one is worked entirely in metal. A smooth silver bowl sits under a domed, scrolled lid with a vajra finial. A small skull marks the front, above a pierced, three-sided stand. Fourteen and a half inches high.

It was made to keep one fact in view.