Saddle

In traditional society, a horse and saddle were as important to Tibetans as automobiles are to Americans. The ornate openwork technique used to make the gilded bronze ornaments for this saddle could have come from only one place—Derge, the famous metalwork center in eastern Tibet. The dragons on the sides of the saddle, with their multilayered background, are reminiscent of Chinese jade carvings from the Yuan and Ming dynasties. The yellow silk pad on the saddle is a recently made replacement.