Painted Tibetan Altar Cabinet - 19th Century

This excellent example of an antique Tibetan painted altar cabinet dates to the 19th century and is from Central Tibet. Buddhist shrine cabinets like this are unusual to find now and would originally have been used for housing statues of deities. These altars were called chöshom and housed in the chapel of a private home. Every home had a chapel (chökhang) and most had an altar of some fashion. Originally this would almost certainly have been made with a matching cabinet (see Wooden Wonders mentioned below for further details).

The top panel depicts two opposing Tibetan dragons guarding the cintamani (ten auspicious jewels). The niches would originally have housed statues of deities. The shelf would have been used for burning butter lamps. 

Our expert team has sensitively restored this piece, cleaning the residue whilst retaining its age and patina. 

References:

Similar examples can be found on page 79 of Auspicious by Design by C. Corona and page 190 of 'Tibetan Furniture: Identifying, Appreciating, Collecting' by Chris Buckley and Wooden Wonders: Tibetan Furniture in Secular and Religious Life by Kamansky (plate 102).

For further information on Tibetan symbolism, see Tibetan Buddhist Symbols by R Beer.

From Tibet

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