Unknown
Altar Table with Auspicious Symbols19th century

Not on view

Painted and lacquered wooden cabinet with three pierced carved panels depicting birds, flowers, and a central wheel motif, topped by an openwork animal frieze

Painted and carved wooden cabinet, likely Tibetan, with three pierced rectangular panels depicting floral scrollwork, birds, and a central dharma wheel with ritual vessel motif. Upper frieze features openwork carving with animals and flowers; scalloped apron below. Polychrome decoration in green, red, gold, and black throughout.

Painted and carved wooden cabinet with three open-work panels depicting birds, flowers, and a central ritual vessel motif in green, red, gold, and black; scalloped apron at base; dense painted floral decoration across surfaces.

Painted wooden cabinet with open fretwork frieze at top carved with birds and floral scrolls; central door panel painted with lotus flowers on a red ground; lower apron in yellow with floral motifs; aged, flaking polychrome surface in green, red, orange, and gold throughout.

Painted wooden cabinet with openwork carved frieze of birds and floral scrolls at top, above a small drawer and hinged door panel decorated with bold lotus and floral motifs in red, green, gold, and black pigments, showing worn and crackled polychrome surface.

Carved and polychrome wooden panel with openwork design, featuring a central dharma wheel encircled by a serpentine form, surrounded by scrolling foliage and two orange and yellow lotus blossoms above; set within a painted frame with gilt floral patterning; traces of green, gold, and red pigment throughout.

Artist or Maker: Unknown
Title: Altar Table with Auspicious Symbols
Place Made: Central Tibet
Date Made: 19th century
Medium: Wood with mineral pigments
Dimensions: 24 3/8 x 33 7/8 x 11 3/4 in. (62.23 x 86.0425 x 29.845 cm)
Credit Line: Gift of Ruth Sutherlin Hayward and Robert W. Hayward in honor of the 18th birthday of the 11th Panchen Lama, Gendun Choekyi Nyima, and the continuation of the historic relationship between him and the Dalai Lama - as each other's teachers.
Accession Number: M.2007.109
Classification: Furnishings
Collecting Area: South and Southeast Asian Art
Curatorial Notes: This is a medium height table, which suggests that it was originally used in front of an important lama’s throne in a monastery or in front of a nobleman’s raised seat in a domestic chapel. The openwork central panel ingeniously depicts the Eight Auspicious Symbols of Buddhism by combining seven small symbols to create the larger eighth symbol, the vase. The flanking front panels each depict birds amidst foliage. In the top panel two deer flank the Buddhist Wheel of the Law, representing Buddha Shakyamuni’s First Sermon in the Deer Park at Sarnath, India. The table’s bottom apron is carved in a cloud pattern and adorned with the face of a mythical animal, the zipac, which is an apotropaic symbol resembling the Indian "Face of Glory" (kirttimukha). The upper end panels are also openwork with a bird on a flowering vine. The lower end panels are painted with four motifs and a precious jewel. The proper right lower panel is also a door to access the table’s interior shelving. On the rear of the table is a sliding door.

Monday	11 am–6 pm
Tuesday	11 am–6 pm
Wednesday	Closed
Thursday	11 am–6 pm
Friday	11 am–8 pm
Saturday	10 am–7 pm
Sunday	10 am–7 pm