Costume, Tibet; Textile

Given by E.S. Gladstone, Esq.

Information given in the 1905 inventory. "Portion of a Masker's Costume formerly worn by Sikkim Lama in "The Mystery Play". Each sleeve of the robe is bordered with the Tibetian sacred tricolour- red, yellow, and blue- in brocaded bands; the apron is decorated with a representation of the head of "the red tiger-sevil," Tag-mar, but the corresponding demon-mask for the face is missing." Description taken from "List of Works of Art acquired by the Victoria and Albert Museum during the the Year 1905" London: Wyman and sons. p. 106.

Given by E.S. Gladstone, Esq.. This acquisition information reflects that found in the Museum records (Asia Department registers and/or Central Inventory) as part of a 2023 provenance research project.

Worn in Sikkim by a masked monastic dancer as part of a complete costume depicting the fierce deity "Tag mar" or "Red Tiger".

This apron comes from the costume of a monastic dancer. It depicts the wrathful head of a Dharmapala or ‘Protector of Religion’, surrounded by thunderbolts or dorjes, and skulls. Wrathful deities were depicted in the masked dances or Cham that were held annually in the courtyards of monasteries throughout Tibet. The dances were intended to exorcise ritually the accumulated evil of the year. An apron of this type was worn either with a mask or as part of the ‘Black Hat Dance’. This commemorated the killing of the anti-Buddhist king Lang Dharma by a Tibetan monk at the end of the 9th century.

499B-1905