The objects resting on lotus buds on the interior of this cup stand represent seven of the Eight Buddhist Treasures: a wheel, an endless knot, a conch shell, a victory banner, lotus flowers, a pair of fish, and a treasure vase. (The traditional eighth treasure, a parasol, has been substituted here by a pair of elephant tusks.) After the fourteenth century these symbols, not necessarily in a group of eight, appeared on metalwork, porcelains, and textiles in China and Tibet.