Tibetan Wood Trunk

A dragon on the front, and an iron hasp to keep it there.

This trunk comes from Tibet and dates to the 19th century. It is painted wood with metal mounts. Tibetan families and monasteries used painted trunks like this to store clothing, textiles and religious books, and to carry goods on pack animals. A coiled dragon fills a lobed medallion at the center of a red front. Stylized gold characters surround it, and gilded scrollwork fills the corners. Iron straps and a hasp hold it all together. Forty inches long and twenty-one high.

Packing light was not, evidently, part of the plan.