Unknown
Offering Cabinet (Torgam) with Fierce Deity or Red Mahakala19th-20th century

On view:

Geffen Galleries, Pan-Asian Buddhist Art

Small painted wooden cabinet with two doors depicting a large face with bulging eyes and open mouth in amber, rust, and black, with skull motifs along the border

Painted wooden cabinet with two doors depicting a large wrathful deity face in orange, red, and black — wide staring eyes, a third eye, and an open mouth with fangs. Black border decorated with red scrolling cloud motifs and small skull emblems at corners and edges. Lower drawer panel with cloud patterning.

Painted wooden cabinet with double doors depicting a large wrathful face with wide circular eyes, open mouth, and flame motifs in orange, red, and black; skull motifs border the black-painted frame.

Artist or Maker: Unknown
Title: Offering Cabinet (Torgam) with Fierce Deity or Red Mahakala
Place Made: Tibet
Date Made: 19th-20th century
Medium: Wood with mineral pigments
Dimensions: 38 x 36 x 18 1/2 in. (96.52 x 91.44 x 46.99 cm)
Credit Line: Gift of Ruth Sutherlin Hayward and Robert W. Hayward as an offering to Mahakala and other protectors of Tibetan Buddhism
Accession Number: M.2006.62.2
Classification: Furnishings
Collecting Area: South and Southeast Asian Art
Curatorial Notes: This offering cabinet (torgam) would have been used in the Protectors’ Chapel (gonkang) of a Tibetan monastery to protect and conceal consecrated cakes made of butter and dough (torma), offerings to the Buddhist protective deities (Sanskrit: dharmapala; Tibetan: ch’os-skyon) led by Mahakala (Great Black One). The dharmapala are believed to defend Buddhism and its teachings and institutions, as well as to destroy the hindrances of its followers. Monks make offerings to the dharmapalas for their aid in overcoming negative forces that prevent enlightenment. Lay Buddhists also worship them in order to obtain earthly blessings, such as the attainment of wealth or longevity.

The gruesome face of a fierce deity or a Red Mahakala, emphasizing the deity’s fiery nature, is depicted on the exterior doors of the cabinet. A panel beneath the doors painted with a thunderbolt (Sanskrit: vajra; Tibetan: dorje). The frame of the cabinet is adorned with dorjes, flames and skulls.
Selected Bibliography: Little, Stephen, and Tushara Bindu Gude. Realms of the Dharma: Buddhist Art across Asia. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 2025.
Selected Exhibition History: Ritual Offerings in Tibetan Art. Saturday, September 13, 2014 - Sunday, October 25, 2015
Ritual Offerings in Tibetan Art. Saturday, September 13, 2014 - Sunday, October 25, 2015

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