A bronze alloy stūpa and butterlamp, 19th century, Tibet, An engraved bronze alloy butter lamp and a hollow cast, unsealed bronze alloy stūpa. A stupa, literally meaning "heap", is originally a mound like structure containing Buddhist relics, once thought to be places of Buddhist worship, typically the remains of a Buddha or saint. The structure is also thought to be the axis mundi, the center or axis of the world. Here the stūpa, or chorten (“dharma place/seat") in Tibetan, functions as a ritual object. H 34 and 24 cm,