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Collections

Unknown
Cabinetlate 19th-20th century

Not on view
Painted wooden cabinet with three horizontal registers of rectangular panels, each containing circular medallions depicting animals and figures in landscape scenes, with a lattice-patterned surround
Painted wooden cabinet with two rows of four rectangular panels, each featuring a circular medallion depicting figures, animals, and landscapes in green, red, and gold tones, framed by geometric and floral border patterns throughout.
Painted panel with four cartouches set within a deep red border of interlaced geometric and floral patterns. Top left: a blue horse with a flaming jewel amid green foliage. Top right: a robed figure seated on a throne beneath a tree with a crane nearby. Bottom left: three deer and a coiled object on a green ground. Bottom right: a crowned figure flanked by tigers with offerings. Fine mineral pigments throughout.
Painted wooden panel divided into four sections, each framing a cartouche-shaped scene against gold and green grounds: upper left shows a seated figure in blue robes on a throne with a tree and attendant; upper right, a brown ox in a landscape; lower left, an armored figure riding a white horse against green hills; lower right, a leaping deer or calf. Borders feature red and gold interlaced geometric and floral patterns with aged, worn surfaces throughout.
Artist or Maker
Unknown
Title
Cabinet
Place Made
Eastern Tibet, Kham region or China
Date Made
late 19th-20th century
Medium
Wood with mineral pigments, gilding, and gesso
Dimensions
33 × 36 3/8 × 15 3/8 in.
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.2010.78.17
Classification
Furnishings
Collecting Area
South and Southeast Asian Art
Curatorial Notes

This cabinet is decorated with a Chinese-style aesthetic. It has two horizontal rows of figural scenes brilliantly painted in lobed cartouches surrounded by foliage on inset rectangular panels. The top row of panels from left to right has a horse with a flaming wish-fulfilling gem on its back; a seated Chinese monarch with a swan, probably Qin Shi Huang (259–210 BCE), the founder of the Qin Dynasty (221–206 BCE) and the first emperor of China; a seated Chinese queen in a garden with a kitten and potted tree, most likely the Empress Dowager Cixi (or Tzu Hsi), the powerful ruler of late Qing Dynasty (644–1912); and a female cow with a full udder, possibly the Spring Ox (Chun Niu) symbolic of agricultural fertility and diligence. The lower row of panels from left to right has a mountainscape with a family of three deer, generally believed to be symbolic of longevity, prosperity, and good fortune; Hu Ye, a Chinese guardian with a tiger symbol who protects temples, villages, and people (especially children) from evil; an elephant with a Buddhist Wheel of the Law (Dharmachakra) on its back; and mountainscape with a pair of wild horses symbolic of vitality and speed. One of the horses is white, emblematic of spiritual purity and a noble, free-spirited nature. Beneath the two figural rows is a row of three horizontal panels of lotuses with foliage. All three rows are bordered by a chevron pattern interspersed with half lotuses. The front edge of the topboard has large lotus petals in alternating blue-green and light green paint with gold outlines. The sides are unadorned. See also M.2010.78.18.