TIBET, XIXÈME-XXÈME SIÈCLE

An essential feature in Tibetan Buddhist temples and monasteries across the Himalayas, butter lamps were traditionally lit with clarified yak butter, though today they are often fueled by vegetable oil or vanaspati ghee. Butter lamps crafted from precious metals such as silver or gold, like the present example, are exceptionally rare. A comparable gold butter lamp of similar size (10.5 cm high) is held in the Sichuan Museum's collection, as illustrated in Selected Cultural Relics of the Sichuan Museum, 2009, p. 281.