Tibetan Trunk with Dragon Motif

The dragon on this trunk has the look of a creature guarding something.

This trunk with a dragon motif comes from Tibet and dates to the late 18th or early 19th century. It is painted wood with metal mounts. Tibetan trunks like this stored clothes, textiles and religious goods in homes and monasteries, and could travel with their owners; the dragon, shared with Chinese ornament, was a favored subject. Here he coils across a vermilion ground, his body built from raised gold dots, his head crowned with black flame, clouds drifting around him. Scrolling vines fill the corners. Iron straps and a hasp hold it together. Forty-three inches long and 26 high.

He appears to take the job seriously.