Ceremonial Saddle

The intensely intricate designs that cover this saddle are made of small, microscopically thin pieces of abalone shell (commonly called mother of pearl) and gold foil set into a background of black lacquer. Like the carved red lacquer seen on the saddle and gun displayed nearby, this technique was usually reserved for delicate luxury objects such as plates, boxes, or folding screens.

For centuries, elaborately decorated saddles were used across Asia, from Japan to the Himalayas, as personal status symbols and as diplomatic gifts. Based on its quality and rarity, this saddle may have been made in the imperial Palace Workshops (Zaoban chu), one of which was devoted specifically to saddlery. Discovered in Tibet in the 1980s, the saddle was probably sent there from China in the seventeenth or eighteenth century as a gift from the imperial court.