skull cup
Bone drinking bowl
A skull cup is a drinking vessel made from the upper portion of a human skull, historically used in ritual or ceremonial contexts across various cultures—from Tibetan Buddhist practices to ancient warrior traditions.
The skull is typically cleaned, sometimes lined with metal, and may be decorated.
In Tibetan Buddhism, the ritual vessel (kapala) holds symbolic offerings.
The museum displayed an ornate skull cup inlaid with silver.
- ritualCeremonial set of actions
- ritual objectItem for ceremonies
- Tibetan BuddhismHimalayan tantric spiritual tradition
- boneHard skeletal tissue
- craniumSkull bone structure
tantric · drinking · drinking vessel · vessel · macabre · offering · blood offering · charnel · sacred · ceremony · libation · nectar · death · relic · chalice · goblet · shaman · sacrifice
material origin
skull cupceramic cup
Clay drinking vessel
porcelain cup · plastic cup · paper cup · crystal goblet · clay vessel