Painted Tibetan Torgam Side Cabinet - 18th Century

This painted Tibetan side cabinet has incredibly unusual iconography and dates to the 18th century. It is almost unheard of to find Tibetan cabinets with a Taoist theme and it seems likely this piece originated in Eastern Tibet. One example of a similar cabinet can be found in Land of Snows: Antique Tibetan Furniture by Li Jianguang, page 150.

The figure to the left is the Taoist immortal He Xiangu who is depicted holding a vase in her hand. She is the only female immortal of the eight daoist immortals. Torgams traditionally were used in Tibet to hold torma (spiritual offering cakes). 

This cabinet is of unusual form for Tibetan furniture and it appears to have originally been at least a four door cabinet and reduced in height many years ago. It appears to be one of a pair as the cabinet is handed. 

This cabinet also has another unusual feature in the form of a spell inscribed on the inner door panel. It is an inscription to 'gather all fears together' and nullify them with hundreds of thousands of offerings, which are represented by the heaped dots on top of the inscription. Scroll through the images to see a detailed picture of the inscription.