A Tibetan bronze stupa, 12th/13th century, of bell-shaped form, the lotus knop finial above a ridged spire and gallery, on a turned tapered pedestal and double lotus base, height 11.6cm. Provenance: the Alain Presencer Collection. Note: a stupa or chorten is the most ancient form of Buddhist art, symbolizing the monumental funerary mounds of ancient India used to store the cremated remains of spiritually attained lamas and Buddha relics. In Tibetan Buddhism, a stupa represents the mind of Buddha (enlightened being) and of Buddhist practitioners. This is a Kadam-style stupa, named after the religious order of Tibetan Buddhism that flourished between the 11th and 14th centuries. Stupas are used for votive offerings, memorials and reliquaries and often contain consecratory items such as paper prayers, incense, stones or relics.