A progressive Tibetan aristocrat’s traditional equestrian equipment: Saddle made for Yuthok Tashi Dhondup
Résumé
Tibetan craftsmen in eastern Tibet were known for their metalwork, especially ornate saddles of pierced iron and gold demask. Arms and armor curator Donald La Rocca and Tibetan military historian Alice Travers examine a rare example where the context of its creation is known, along with the fascinating twentieth-century career of its commissioner, Yuthok Tashi Dhondup, a nobleman, military officer, governor, and soccer-team captain. Such luxury objects were important public displays of wealth and status in Tibet.