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Collections

Unknown
Trunk with Brocade (Kati Rimo) Design17th-18th century

Not on view
Painted wooden storage chest with brick-red ground, ochre and black floral medallion decoration, and iron strap hardware along the sides and base
Artist or Maker
Unknown
Title
Trunk with Brocade (Kati Rimo) Design
Place Made
Tibet
Date Made
17th-18th century
Medium
Wood with mineral pigments; metal fittings
Dimensions
22 1/4 × 44 1/2 × 17 in.
Credit Line
Gift of Dr. Robert Hayward in memory of Ruth Sutherlin Hayward
Accession Number
M.2013.183.1
Classification
Furnishings
Collecting Area
South and Southeast Asian Art
Curatorial Notes

The painted decoration on the exterior of Tibetan furniture is often determined by the intended function of the particular piece of furniture. For example, the painted renditions of intricate textile designs found on some trunks suggests that they were used to store luxury textiles imported from China, India, and Europe. One of the most important textile designs is a latticework motif called kati rimo (brocade), which can be traced back to the Mongol culture of the Yuan Dynasty in China (1279-1368) and even earlier in the western Islamic world. This exquisite trunk is embellished with painted kati rimo designs on the front. It has been fitted with reinforcement metal fittings and a now-incomplete locking hasp. See also M.2006.156.1, M.2006.156.3a-b, and M.2013.183.2. The kati rimo design on this trunk differs from that on M.2006.156.1 in that the proportions and color palette differ.

See Dale Carolyn Gluckman, "A Multifaceted Relationship: Textiles and Tibetan Painted Furniture," in David Kamansky, ed., Wooden Wonders: Tibetan Furniture in Secular and Religious Life (Pasadena: Pacific Asia Museum and Chicago: Serindia Publications, 2004), pp. 269, no. 91.

Selected Bibliography
  • Esguerra, Clarissa, and Michaela Hansen. Lee Alexander McQueen: Mind, Mythos, Muse. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 2022.
  • Esguerra, Clarissa M., Michaela Hansen, Katie Somerville, and Danielle Whitfield, editors. Alexander McQueen: Mind, Mythos, Muse. Melbourne: National Gallery of Victoria; Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 2022.
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