This type of painting belongs to a specific iconographic genre that is referred to in Tibet as either "sets of ornaments" (gyan tshog) or "material for the banquet" (skang das). Paintings of this type represent the different offerings made to one or more wrathful deities during special ceremonies designed to appease and propitiate them. In some monasteries, these paintings were part of rituals that were periodically performed to renew the local malevolent spirits’ oath of submission to Buddhism. The deities are never physically represented in this type of painting, rather their presence is symbolized by their empty garments and ornaments.
At least four wrathful deities are symbolically portrayed in the painting, the presence of each represented by a skull-cup. In the center of the composition are the skull-crown, veil, tiger-skin robe, and large earrings of the principal deity to whom this set of offerings was dedicated. Attributes such as these would normally identify the particular deity. Here, however, their isolated rendering precludes an association with a specific deity.
Below the tiger skin robe is a sacrificial cake (torma) flanked on the left by auspicious symbols, and on the right by trays of food and scents to delight the senses. Below the torma is a row of offerings symbolizing the parts of the human body, beneath them are musical instruments and animals that serve as the messengers of the gods.
A Tibetan inscription on the back of the painting reads: "Given as an act of faith by Lobsang Samten, the retired jangdren of Gungru in the female wood-snake year." (Translation by H. E. Richardson.) Lobsang Samten was a senior monk who had retired from the post of leading the prayers in the assembly hall of the monastery or religious college of Gungru. The female wood-snake year referred to is most likely equivalent to 1785.
