Unknown
Trunk with Dragons1480-1650

Not on view

No image

Artist or Maker: Unknown
Title: Trunk with Dragons
Place Made: Tibet
Date Made: 1480-1650
Medium: Yak leather with mineral pigments and gilding; metal fittings
Dimensions: 10 x 13 3/4 x 10 1/2 in. (25.4 x 34.93 x 26.67 cm)
Credit Line: Gift of Ruth Hayward, Ph.D. and Robert Hayward, M.D., in honor of Tibetan Buddhism, Tibetan people, art and culture, through the 2010 Collectors Committee
Accession Number: M.2010.78.10
Classification: Furnishings
Collecting Area: South and Southeast Asian Art
Curatorial Notes: Yak leather is used in Tibet for a wide variety of apparel, equestrian tack, and myriad mundane items. Used for storing or transporting valuables, this small trapezoid-shaped trunk with a scallop-edged lid is made of yak leather adorned with gilding and mineral pigments, and reinforced with metal fittings. The primary decoration on the front consists of two embossed and incised roundels with writhing dragons. The front and side panels have a gold border of interlocking ‘Y’s. The top and back feature a "leopard spot pattern" derived by abrading layers of paint. See David Kamansky, ed., Wooden Wonders: Tibetan Furniture in Secular and Religious Life (Pasadena: Pacific Asia Museum and Chicago: Serindia Publications, 2004), p. 240, no. 63.