Tibet / China · Metalwork / Religious Craft
བུམ་པ (Bumpa)
The bumpa (བུམ་པ) is the ritual offering vessel used in virtually every Tibetan Buddhist ceremony — a vase-form copper or silver vessel filled with consecrated water and often capped with a peacock feather or precious stone stopper. The bumpa's proportional system is specified in Tibetan Buddhist texts — the ratio of body width to height to neck width to base diameter must conform to a canonical set of ratios that vary by ritual purpose. The making tradition uses repousse and raising techniques on copper or silver sheet, with the defining knowledge being the water level calibration: a correctly proportioned bumpa holds exactly the volume specified for its ritual function when filled to the base of the neck. The volume is assessed not by measurement but by a finger-depth test: 'when my finger inserted at the neck touches water, the bumpa is full.'
Risk level: Critically Endangered · Component of Tibetan Buddhist ritual UNESCO nominations; China National ICH list
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