Saddle (gser sga) from Derge, Tibet

We have a general perception in the West of Tibet being a culture that is only defined by Tibetan Buddhism, but the Tibetans, like every other culture around the world, had a long history that involved military activity. With arms and armor in general, beauty doesn’t have to impede function in any way. So this saddle underneath is made the way a traditional saddle is made, from four pieces of wood tied together with leather thongs. It’s when you get to the ornament that it sets it apart as something unique. The plates that cover it are made of gilt copper done in a technique called repoussé, where the designs are embossed or bumped up from the back, very finely made. There’s a vivid red fabric on the wood behind the metal to set off the gold scrollwork in front of it. The textile of the saddle pad seems to be a Japanese brocade – a beautiful, sumptuous silk fabric that has pairs of birds and pairs of lions. You have two dragons on the front. Dragons are used in the West often to symbolize some kind of evil power. In Asia, the dragon symbolizes the heavens, he symbolizes creativity, power. In the top center is what’s called the Wish-Fulfilling Jewel. Jewels symbolize the clarity and the purity of Tibetan Buddhism. The Wish-Fulfilling Jewel was said to have the power to grant any wishes. In the very center is this monster mask, and that is based on a Hindu legend. The god Shiva appointed this demon to be the guardian of his doorway. And here it’s used over the archway of the saddle, an auspicious symbol of good luck. This tradition of highly decorative saddles continues uninterrupted in Tibet for at least a thousand years. Although in its form, in its style, and in its use of decorative ornaments it could have been made in the fourteenth or fifteenth century, this saddle was actually made in the 1940s. It was made for a Tibetan nobleman, and he had this saddle commissioned when he was appointed governor of eastern Tibet in 1942. And that kind of continuity really doesn’t exist anywhere in the world today. And this comes right at the end of that period of Tibetan cultural history. For me this saddle sums up the beauty and the continuity of traditional Tibetan culture, from its very beginning almost right to its very end.