Tibetan Iron Trunk

Yak leather, iron straps, and one pale window of hide for no obvious reason.

This trunk comes from Tibet and dates to the 18th century, built of yak leather and hide with iron mounts. Leather trunks suited Tibetan life, where households, monasteries and traders needed strong storage for cloth, valuables and goods, and much of it had to travel by pack animal over hard country. The surface glows a mottled red-brown, darkening to near black in patches. A rectangle of yellowed hide sits at the center of the front. Slim iron straps grip the corners, and a hasp holds the lid. Thirty-one and a half inches long.

Built for rough roads, and it looks as though it knows some.