A PARCEL GILT SILVER AND GILT COPPER ALLOY REPOUSSÉ SADDLE WITH ASSOCIATED GOLD DAMASCENED STIRRUPS AND BRIDLE SET


TIBET, CIRCA 18TH AND 19TH CENTURYHimalayan Art Resources item no.61946 Saddle: 19 in. (48 cm) long
|西藏 約十八與十九世紀 局部銀鎏金與銅鎏金錘揲馬鞍配鋄金馬鐙與馬轡 The saddle panels are decorated with elaborate repoussé, showing parcel-gilt silver dragons framing a central kirtimukha (Face of Glory). The panels are further adorned with inset turquoise and red glass bosses. The saddle is equipped with gold-damascened iron stirrups and leather-backed bridle, likely of an earlier date. Such lavish saddles were reserved for Tibetan nobility and government officials. In discussion of a closely related example held in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (Warriors of the Himalayas, 2006, p.242, no.146), La Rocca notes the diversity of use of these saddles by different members of the family over multiple generations, including a "ceremonial horseback target-shooting competition". A closely related example is in the Chenxuntang Collection, published in Xu, Jewels of Transcendence, Hong Kong, 2018, pp.226 & 227, no.160. Further examples were sold at Sotheby's, New York, 19 September 2015, lot 712 and 19 March 2014, lot 81. Provenance Private American Collection, acquired in Nepal, late 1970s Thence by descent