- Title
- Book Stand and Chest (Pegam) with Scholar and Arhat (Enlightened Buddhist Teacher)
- Date Made
- 17th-18th century
- Medium
- Wood with mineral pigments, gilding, and gesso; gilt iron and brass fittings
- Dimensions
- 27 x 12 x 24 in. (68.58 x 30.48 x 60.96 cm)
- Accession Number
- M.2010.81.9
- Collecting Area
- South and Southeast Asian Art
- Curatorial Notes
This is type of chest used for storing books and implements (pegam), which is derived from the Tibetan words for "book" (pecha) and "box" (gam). The front has three square drawers and one long horizontal drawer beneath them. Each drawer has painted and gesso flowering lotus scroll as the background and a brass pull rings with lotus plates. A border with a gilded Greek key pattern surrounds the drawers. The sides each have a square painted panel with a Scholar seated in a mountainscape on the proper right and an Arhat (Enlightened Buddhist Teacher or Saint) seated on Chinese-style red lacquer covered post-and-rail furniture on the proper left. Beneath each personage is a rectangular panel with a painted and gesso flowering lotus scroll. The side posts are reinforced with gilt iron fittings with pointed jewel terminals. The top section consists of a scalloped back panel embellished with a flowering swag of lotuses and foliage. It has molded side panels, and book stops in the form of gilded lotus bud finials. In addition to storing books, it also functioned as a reading stand for the sacred scriptures read during rituals that were made in the horizontal format of Tibetan religious books with unbound wooden covers (see M.71.1.48, M.78.101.1, and M.86.345.12). See also M.2010.81.6.
