A Progressive Tibetan Aristocrat’s Traditional Equestrian Equipment

Donald J. La Rocca and Alice Travers

Golden filigreed saddle featuring turquoise insets; upholstered in blue, yellow, and red roundel-pattern textile — Saddle (*serga*) made for Yuthok Tashi Dhondup (1906–1983); Kham region, southeastern Tibet; ca. 1943–47; copper alloy, iron, gold, turquoise, wood, leather, textile (silk, cotton); 18½ × 24 × 17 in. (47 × 61 × 43.2 cm); The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Purchase, Arthur Ochs Sulzberger and Kenneth and Vivian Lam Gifts; funds from various donors, by exchange; Laird and Kathleen Landmann and Bernice and Jerome Zwanger Gifts; and funds from various donors, 2008; 2008.81a; image © The Metropolitan Museum of Art, image source: Art Resource, NY

Saddle Made for Yuthok Tashi Dhondup

Derge, Kham region, southeastern Tibet ca. 1943–1947

Saddle (serga) made for Yuthok Tashi Dhondup (1906–1983); Kham region, southeastern Tibet; ca. 1943–47; copper alloy, iron, gold, turquoise, wood, leather, textile (silk, cotton); 18½ × 24 × 17 in. (47 × 61 × 43.2 cm); The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Purchase, Arthur Ochs Sulzberger and Kenneth and Vivian Lam Gifts; funds from various donors, by exchange; Laird and Kathleen Landmann and Bernice and Jerome Zwanger Gifts; and funds from various donors, 2008; 2008.81a; image © The Metropolitan Museum of Art, image source: Art Resource, NY

Summary

Tibetan craftsmen in eastern Tibet were known for their metalwork, especially ornate saddles of pierced iron and gold demask. Arms and armor curator Donald La Rocca and Tibetan military historian Alice Travers examine a rare example where the context of its creation is known, along with the fascinating twentieth-century career of its commissioner, Yuthok Tashi Dhondup, a nobleman, military officer, governor, and soccer-team captain. Such luxury objects were important public displays of wealth and status in Tibet.

Key Terms

British Empire

The British Empire was the largest empire in world history, ruling almost a quarter of the world’s land area and population at its height in the mid-twentieth century. The British achieved hegemony in India after the Battle of Plassey in 1757, and soon came to rule large areas of the Himalayas, including Kashmir and Ladakh. Several small Himalayan kingdoms, including Nepal, Bhutan, and Sikkim, were allowed to maintain semi-independence as buffer-states against Qing-controlled Tibet. The British briefly invaded Tibet in 1903–1904. After the collapse of the Qing Dynasty in 1912, the British became a major cultural and military influence on the Ganden Podrang government in Lhasa. India achieved independence in 1947, ending British rule in the Himalayas.

Dalai Lama

The Dalai Lamas are a tulku lineage that has played a central role in Tibetan history for the last five hundred years. In 1577 a Mongol khan gave the Geluk monk Sonam Gyatso (1543–1588) the title “Dalai Lama,” combining the Mongolian word for ocean, dalai (a reference to the depth of his knowledge), and the Tibetan word for guru, lama. Later, two previous incarnations were retroactively identified. The fifth incarnation, Ngawang Gyatso (1617–1682), allied with another Mongol khan to unite most of the Tibetan Plateau, forming the Ganden Podrang government that would govern Tibet until 1959. Since the Communist takeover, the current Fourteenth Dalai Lama has lived in exile at Dharamshala in India. The Dalai Lamas are understood to be emanations of the bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara.

Ganden Podrang

The Ganden Podrang was the government system that ruled Central Tibet, in one form or another, from 1642 to 1959. Headed by the Dalai Lamas, the Ganden Podrang had a dual system that included both powerful Geluk monastic officials and secular members of the Central Tibetan noble families. From the eighteenth century onward, the Ganden Podrang had a central governing council called the “kashag,” or “parliament.”

gilding

Gilding is a metalworking technique in which a fine golden surface is applied over a statue made of bronze. In Newar metalworking workshops, gilding is typically done with fire and mercury, which gives sculptures a warm finish (but is poisonous for their makers). In Tibetan contexts sometimes gold dust is mixed with glue and applied with a brush (often called “cold gold”), especially to a deity’s face to gain merit.

inlay

Inlay is a decorative technique of creating a depression in a surface and then filling it with some other material. Metal can be inlaid with precious stones or glass, or more precious forms of metal, for instance, brass inlaid with silver and copper. Wood can be inlaid with silver, or other metal and conch. Tibetans tend to favor turquoise inlay while the Newars employ a range of colored glass and semi-precious stones.

Saddles with Ornate Metalwork as Objects of Rank and Status

This luxurious saddle was among the ceremonial trappings of Yuthok Tashi Dhondup when he was governor general (dochi) of eastern Tibet, or Kham. Tibetan horses were prized for their strength, endurance, and agility since at least the seventh century and continued to be utilized for transportation, agriculture, and warfare into the modern era. The practice of adorning saddles with ornamental plates of gold, silver, or gilt copper occurred among the nomadic cultures of Central Asia by the fourth century (fig. 2).

Video

Fig. 2.
The Met, "How this ornate saddle reflects traditional Tibetan culture | Art, Explained," *YouTube*, August 30, 2013, 2:42, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BvQeXZg8_rY

Saddles clad with plates of pierced and chiseled iron and decorated with gold or silver damascening, a distinctive feature of fine Tibetan saddles (serga), existed by the late fourteenth to the early fifteenth century (figs. 3 and 4). These and other types of pierced ironwork—censers, cup cases, pen cases, and certain ritual objects—are found from then onward mainly in Tibet, and to a lesser extent in China, suggesting that this style of ironwork was an innovation of Tibetan or Mongolian artisans, possibly originating in the late Yuan dynasty (1271–1368). Ornate ceremonial saddles were included among the valued possessions of Tibetan monasteries and aristocratic households, and even accorded a designated saddle storeroom (chibga khang) in the Potala Palace. Their use as important signifiers of both secular and religious rank and status continued in Tibet until the mid-twentieth century.

Orange leather saddle featuring gold filigree and turquoise decoration at pommel — Fig. 3
Set of Saddle Plates; Tibetan or Chinese; ca. 1400; iron, gold, lapis lazuli, turquoise; 10 7/8 × 23½ × 13¾ in. (27.6 × 59.7 × 43.9 cm); The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Purchase, Gift of William H. Riggs, by exchange, and Kenneth and Vivian Lam Gift, 1999; 1999.118a–g; CC0 – Creative Commons (CC0 1.0)

Decoration on rear saddle plate depicting dragons writhing and twisting through field of golden filigree scrollwork — Fig. 4
Detail of Set of Saddle Plates showing the cantle plate (rear); Tibetan or Chinese; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Purchase, Gift of William H. Riggs, by exchange, and Kenneth and Vivian Lam Gift, 1999; 1999.118d; CC0 – Creative Commons (CC0 1.0)

Yuthok Tashi Dhondup: Aristocrat, Government Official, and Military Officer

One of the latest, possibly the very latest, complete example in this long tradition is the saddle and tack (including bridle, crupper, and stirrups) (fig. 5) of Yuthok Tashi Dhondup (1906–1983) (fig. 6), a Tibetan nobleman and government official (zhungzhab). The Lhasa aristocracy (kudrak) encompassed more than two hundred families, which owned hereditary estates across central Tibet and were obligated to serve as officials in the Tibetan government, called (1642–1959). This aristocratic elite was divided into a hierarchy of four subgroups, among the most prestigious of which were the yabzhi families, comprising the six ennobled families of former . One of them, the Yuthok, stems from the Tenth Dalai Lama in the early nineteenth century. The name references a famous Lhasa bridge covered with turquoise-hued roof (thok) tiles, located near the family’s house (fig. 7). The prominent use of turquoise (yu) on Yuthok Tashi Dhondup’s saddle likely alludes to the name Yuthok, literally, “turquoise roof.”

Fig. 5
Stirrups belonging to the equestrian set of Yuthok Tashi Dhondup; Tibet; ca. 1943–1947; copper alloy, gold; height 7 in. (17.8 cm); The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Purchase, Arthur Ochs Sulzberger and Kenneth and Vivian Lam Gifts; funds from various donors, by exchange; Laird and Kathleen Landmann and Bernice and Jerome Zwanger Gifts; and funds from various donors; 2008; 2008.81b, c.

Black and white photograph of two men in military uniform and helmets posing side by side — Fig. 6
Frederick Spencer Chapman (British, 1907–1971); *Yuthok Tashi Dhondup (left) and Taring Jigme (right) in Military Uniform*; September 7, 1936; photograph; Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford; 1998.131.501; image © Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford, 1998.131.501

Black and white photograph of covered stone bridge featuring tiled, pitched roof and finials — Fig. 7
Tse Ten Tashi; *Turquoise Bridge*; Lhasa; 1951; photograph; The Newark Museum of Art, Newark, NJ; 2000.36.2.13; image courtesy of The Newark Museum of Art

Yuthok Tashi Dhondup entered government service as a lay official (drungkhor) in 1924. Like many other lay officials during this period, when the Tibetan army was being strengthened and modernized, he alternated between holding civil and military positions. The latter represented a significant part of his career; the British considered him one of the best military officers in Tibet. In 1926, he became a secretary of the Cabinet of Ministers (kadrung). Returning to the army in 1932, Yuthok was promoted to general (dapon), fourth rank. Early in 1933 he was appointed senior general (with Taring Jigme as junior general) of a new elite regiment (drongdrak makgar), colloquially called the Trapchi regiment. After the regiment was disbanded in 1934, Yuthok remained a general, commanding the Dalai Lama’s bodyguard (kusung makgar), again with Taring Jigme as his junior commander, from 1935 to 1938 (fig. 6). He was removed by Regent Reting from active army service in September 1938 and granted the honorific title of taiji, which elevated him to the third rank of government officials. Along with other military and civil posts that followed, Yuthok captained Tibet’s first football team, Lhasa United (fig. 8). In 1942 he was again promoted, receiving the honorific title of dzasak, and appointed governor general of eastern Tibet (dochi), a position carrying both civil and military responsibilities. He left Lhasa to take up residence in Chamdo, capital of Kham region, arriving in April 1943, and returning to Lhasa in October 1947.

Black and white photograph of soccer team posing in three rows before mountain range — Fig. 8.
Frederick Spencer Chapman (British, 1907–1971); *“Lhasa United”*; October 20, 1936; photograph; Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford; 1998.131.385; image © Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford, 1998.131.385, CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0

The Creation of the Yuthok Saddle

During his sojourn in Kham, Yuthok commissioned the saddle and equestrian equipment discussed here from artisans in Derge (present-day Ganzi Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province, China), a renowned center for decorative metalwork. The saddle is distinguished by elaborate mounts comprising intricately pierced, embossed, and gilt copper plates set with turquoise (fig. 9). It is exceptional for its fine craftsmanship and artistic excellence; for being one of the few extant Tibetan ceremonial saddles of which the original patron is identifiable; and as a documented example of the late “Derge pierced-gold” (derge sertsak) metalworking style.

Decoration on front saddle plate depicting dragons writhing and twisting through field of golden filigree scrollwork — Fig. 9.
Detail of the Yuthok saddle showing the pommel plate (front); The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; 2008.81a; image © The Metropolitan Museum of Art, image source: Art Resource, NY

Ceremonial Trappings and Luxury Objects in Traditional Aristocratic Life

In traditional Tibet, aristocrats from prestigious families displayed their social standing through material possessions of great quality that were used both in everyday life and on ceremonial occasions, such as their official’s robes, headdresses, and jewelry, as well as elaborate equestrian equipment. Lay officials above the fourth rank regularly took part in festivities and processions and attended state functions, in which they would ride magnificently caparisoned horses. The principal events in which saddles such as the one presented here were employed included the ceremonies of the New Year, or Great Prayer Festival in Lhasa, and the compulsory horse-riding and target-shooting contests for lay officials (drungkhor tselgyuk) (fig. 10). The opulent costumes and trappings that often accompanied these saddles are documented in a photograph of the Tibetan aristocrat and government official “George” Dundul Namgyal Tsarong, who can be seen sitting astride a very similar saddle while taking part in the New Year Festival in 1950 (fig. 11). Another rare example of an elaborate ceremonial saddle with a known owner is that of Surkhang Wangchen Tseten, Yuthok Tashi Dhondup’s relative (through the family of his second wife), which was also made in Derge. It was commissioned by Surkhang Wangchen Tseten when he served as governor general of eastern Tibet in the 1930s.

Black and white photograph of six officials riding on horseback up dusty hillside path — Fig. 10
Frederick Spencer Chapman (British, 1907–1971); *Group of Officials Riding Up to the Potala for New Year Festivities* (named persons: Taring Jigme, Yuthok); February 13, 1937; photograph; Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford; 1998.131.578.1; image © Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford, 1998.131.578.1, CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0

Black and white photograph of man in wide-brimmed fur hat riding horse with ornamented headdress — Fig. 11
Heinrich Harrer (Austrian, 1912–2006); *George Tsarong in Yasor Costume*; 1950; photograph; Universität Zürich Völkerkundemuseum, Zurich; VZM 400.07.23.002; image courtesy Ethnographic Museum at the University of Zürich

Footnotes

For a fourth-century Xianbei example, see Jean-Paul Desroches, L’Asie des steppes: d’Alexandre le Grand à Gengis Khan (Paris: Réunion des musées nationaux, 2000), 163, cat. no. 152; James C.Y. Watt et al., China: Dawn of a Golden Age, 200–750 A.D., Exhibition catalog (New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2005), 124–25, cat. no. 25.

Donald J. La Rocca, Warriors of the Himalayas: Rediscovering the Arms and Armor of Tibet, Exhibition catalog (New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2006), 214–51.

Jiang Huaiying, Xizang Budala gong [Potala Palace in Tibet] (Beijing: Wenwu chubanshe, 1996), 1:15.

Luciano Petech, Aristocracy and Government in Tibet, 1728–1959, Serie Orientale Roma 45 (Rome: Instituto Italiano per il Medio ed Estremo Oriente, 1973), 28; Dorje Yudon Yuthok, House of the Turquoise Roof (Reprint, Ithaca, NY: Snow Lion, (1990) 1995), 154.

Government of India Press, Who’s Who in Tibet, Corrected with a Few Subsequent Additions up to 30th September 1948, vol. L (Calcutta: Government of India Press, 1949), 146; see also the government list of lay officials entitled “Shing byi [Wood bird year, i.e., 1924] roll,” reproduced in Luciano Petech, Aristocracy and Government in Tibet, 1728–1959, Serie Orientale Roma 45 (Rome: Instituto Italiano per il Medio ed Estremo Oriente, 1973), 248. In this list, G.yu thog sras Bkra shis don grub is mentioned in the following way (our translation): “G.yu thog sras Bkra shis don grub, aged 19 [tibetico more, that is, eighteen years old according to Western reckoning], entered government service in 1924, currently has no government position.”

Government of India Press, Who’s Who in Tibet, Corrected to the Autumn of 1937, with a Few Subsequent Additions up to February 1938 (plus Addenda) (Calcutta: Government of India Press, 1938), 79.

This biographical account is based on the following secondary sources: Luciano Petech, Aristocracy and Government in Tibet, 1728–1959, Serie Orientale Roma 45 (Rome: Instituto Italiano per il Medio ed Estremo Oriente, 1973), 31; Rinchen Dolma Taring, Daughter of Tibet: The Autobiography of Rinchen Dolma Taring, Reprint (Boston: Wisdom, 1970) 1986, 132; Dorje Yudon Yuthok, House of the Turquoise Roof (Reprint, Ithaca, NY: Snow Lion, (1990) 1995), 180, 242; G.yu thog tshe ring sgrol dkar (Yutok, Tsering Dolkar), Yab Gzhis g.Yu Thog Sa Dbang Dam Pa Bkra Shis Don Grub Mchog Gi Sku Tshe’i Byung Ba Che Long Tsam Ma Bcos Lhug Par Brjod Pa Bzhugs so [Biographical Account of Yabshe Yuthok Sawang Tashi Dhondup], Rtsom Rig Sgyu Rtsal Deb Phreng 6 (Dharamsala: AMI, 2002), 14; Melvyn C. Goldstein, A History of Modern Tibet, 1913–1959: The Demise of the Lamaist State (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1989); and on the following primary sources: Caccia, “Notes on Tibetan Institutions and Personalities” (British National Archives, FO/371/19254, 1935), 6; Norbu Dhondup, Lhasa Mission Diary (October to December 1937) from Norbu Dhondup British Trade Agent, Yatung and Assistant of the Political Officer in Sikkim, British Mission, Lhasa, Tibet (British Library, India Office Records, L/P&S/12/4193, 1937); Norbu Dhondup, Lhasa Mission Diary for the Month of September 1938 from Norbu Dhondup, British Trade Agent, Yatung and Assistant to the Political Officer in Sikkim (British Library, India Office Records, L/P&S/12/4193, 1938); P. Tsering, Lhasa Letter for the Week Ending the 19 October 1947 from P. Tsering for the Officer in Charge, Indian Mission Lhasa (British Library, India Office Records, L/P&S/12/4202, 1947); Government of India Press, Who’s Who in Tibet, Corrected to the Autumn of 1937, with a Few Subsequent Additions up to February 1938 (plus Addenda) (Calcutta: Government of India Press, 1938), 79; Government of India Press, Who’s Who in Tibet, Corrected with a Few Subsequent Additions up to 30th September 1948, vol. L (Calcutta: Government of India Press, 1949), 146. See Tenzin Dickie, “Yuthok Tashi Dhondup,” Treasury of Lives, 2016, https://treasuryoflives.org/biographies/view/Yuthok-Tashi-Dhondup/9333 for a presentation of his later career, including while in exile.

This title of Mongol origin, referring to both lay and monk officials, bestows the third rank in the government officials’ rank ladder.

For a more detailed discussion of the construction, materials, and iconography of the saddle and its tack, see Donald J. La Rocca, “Recent Acquisitions of Tibetan and Mongolian Arms and Armor in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Part 2,” Waffen-und Kostümkunde: Zeitschrift der Gesellschaft für Historische Waffen-und Kostükunde 56, no. 2 (2014): 187–210. Yuthok Tsering Dolkar and her daughter Yuthok Tsezom very kindly confirmed many facts about the history of the saddle, and Yangchen Lakar provided additional useful information (via letters, emails, and verbal communications, 2007–8).

Concerning the reputation of Derge as a center for fine metalwork, see John Clarke, “A History of Ironworking in Tibet: Centers of Production, Styles, and Techniques,” in Warriors of the Himalayas: Rediscovering the Arms and Armor of Tibet, ed. Amy Heller and Lozang Jamspal, Exhibition catalog (New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2006), 21–33, 29; William Woodville Rockhill, “Notes on the Ethnology of Tibet: Based on the Collections of the United States National Museum,” in Annual Report of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution . . . for the Year Ending 1893: Report of the U.S. National Museum (Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution, 1895), 665–747, esp. 692, 695–96, 705, 712–13, 716–17, 740.

Perhaps because the craft of fine ironworking was in decline, plates of nonferrous metal, particularly embossed copper, rather than pieced iron became more typical for ceremonial saddles from some point in the nineteenth century on. A notable exception is the late saddle with tack and matching sword in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 2003.230.1–.3a–e, for which see Donald J. La Rocca, Warriors of the Himalayas: Rediscovering the Arms and Armor of Tibet, Exhibition catalog (New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2006), 234–39.

Literally “Derge pierced gold,” usually referring to pierced, chiseled, and gilt ironwork, or, as in this case, gilt copper. This term, as it relates to the saddle, was pointed out by Yangchen Lakar (written communication, December 3, 2007).

Alice Travers, “The Horse-riding and Target-shooting Contest for Lay Officials (drung ’khor rtsal rgyugs): Reflections on the Military Identity of the Tibetan Aristocracy at the Beginning of the 20th Century,” Études mongoles et sibériennes (EMSCAT) 42 (2011), https://doi.org/10.4000/emscat.1850.

Hugh E. Richardson, Ceremonies of the Lhasa Year (London: Serindia, 1993), 31–59; Joachim Karsten, “A Note on ya sor and the Secular Festivals following the Smon lam chen mo,” in Contributions on Tibetan Language, History, and Culture: Proceedings of the Csoma de Körös Symposium Held at Velm-Vienna, Austria, 13–19 September 1981, ed. Ernst Steinkellner, vol. 1 (Vienna: Arbeitskreis für Tibetische und Buddhistische Studien, Universität Wien, 1983), 131.

His first wife was from the Langdun (glang mdun) family but passed away after childbirth while he was undergoing military training in Gyantse in 1932; see Rinchen Dolma Taring, Daughter of Tibet: The Autobiography of Rinchen Dolma Taring, Reprint (Boston: Wisdom, 1970), 132. For information on his other marriages, see his second wife’s autobiography, Dorje Yudon Yuthok, House of the Turquoise Roof (Reprint, Ithaca, NY: Snow Lion, (1990) 1995), 313; Tenzin Dickie, “Yuthok Tashi Dhondup,” Treasury of Lives, 2016, https://treasuryoflives.org/biographies/view/Yuthok-Tashi-Dhondup/9333.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2005.427.1 (published in Donald J. La Rocca, Warriors of the Himalayas: Rediscovering the Arms and Armor of Tibet, Exhibition catalog (New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2006), 242–43, cat. no. 126).