- Title
- Pouch for a Sewing Kit
- Date Made
- 19th century
- Medium
- Silver and gilt silver inlaid with turquoise, carnelian, and coral; leather
- Dimensions
- 12 3/4 x 6 1/2 x 2 in. (32.39 x 16.51 x 5.08 cm)
- Accession Number
- M.82.21
- Collecting Area
- South and Southeast Asian Art
- Curatorial Notes
This Tibetan woman’s leather pouch (baghu) has an ornate closure flap made of silver and gilt silver with floral scrolls and inlaid with turquoise, carnelian, and coral. It has a leather suspension loop adorned with silver medallions. The pouch would have been used to carry a sewing kit and possibly other small implements. The lavish materials suggest that it was owned by a wealthy Tibetan noblewoman (see AC1993.147.1), who would have worn it on her belt as a status symbol. It is similar in form to a Tibetan flint pouch (mechag or chuckmuck [derived from chakmak]), but does not include a metal striker plate on the base.
For a comparable sewing kit pouch, see Zla-ba-tshe-ring et al, Precious Deposits: Historical Relics of Tibet and China, Vol. 5: Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China (-1949 A.D). (Beijing: Morning Glory Publishers, 2000), pp. 144-145, no. 81.
- Selected Bibliography
- Pal, Pratapaditya. Art of Tibet. Los Angeles; Berkeley, CA: Los Angeles County Museum of Art; University of California Press, 1983.
- Pal, Pratapaditya. Art of Tibet. Expanded edition. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1990.
