Painted Tibetan Altar Cabinet - 19th Century Damchiya Sideboards being used to display a

being used to display a deity

The lively mottled red-orange surface was created through the application of coloured lac on a hand-turned lathe

this event honours Krishna's pastoral life and remains a vibrant tradition in India today

Below the main storage area are two sliding drawers

Painted Tibetan Altar Cabinet - 19th Century Damchiya Sideboards being used to display aThis excellent example of an antique Tibetan painted altar cabinet dates to the 19th century and is from Central Tibet. Buddhist shrine cabinets like this are unusual to find now and would originally have been used for housing statues of deities. These altars were called chshom and housed in the chapel of a private home. Every home had a chapel (chkhang) and most had an altar of some fashion. Originally this would almost certainly have been made with