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Tibetan Skull Cup
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Inside the Tibetan Skull Cup

Interior of a Tibetan skull cup. The skull top of a respected Buddhist priest, or lama is incorporated into this sacred cup, as a highly sacred relic. It would have been retrieved from a cremation or funeral pyre. The cup was used for religious offerings at a Buddhist monastery.

 

Image © Leeds Museums & Galleries. Detail of photo by curator Antonia Lovelace