Date of Award

2026

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

Art Business

Abstract

This thesis examines the journey of the kapāla, a Tibetan Buddhist ritual skull cup, from a sacred implement to a global commodity. It argues that the modern identity, display, and commercial value of the kapāla in the Western world are not a natural extension of its original religious meaning but are fundamentally a product of its aesthetic and political re-creation by the Qing imperial court. This study posits the Qing court's intervention as the "decisive pivot" that systematically replaced the object's native "religious value system," based on ritual efficacy, with a new "imperial value system" rooted in craftsmanship, precious materials, and political symbolism. By tracing the object's biography through four key domains—Tibetan monasteries, the Qing court, comparative museum displays (Yonghe Palace and the British Museum), and the divergent secondary art markets of China and the West—this research demonstrates how this imperial value system has profoundly determined the kapāla's subsequent global fate. The findings reveal that it is the "Qing-style" object, an embodiment of imperial power, rather than its original Tibetan form, that constitutes the principal subject of value in contemporary curatorial practice and commercial exchange.

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