Tibetan Saddle

This Tibetan Saddle is dated about about 1920, so it is not old. The saddle is made from small sections of wood. I doubt if large pieces of wood are easy to find in Tibet.

The saddle may have been imported from China, it is hard to say what is the origin of the wood. The saddle is covered with sharkskin known as shagreen. This is further edged with silver of a very base kind.

The saddle is held together with lashings of leather or raw hide, knotted and twisted to keep it firmly in place. There are fixing for the stirrups and for a breast plate and a crupper. I purchased it with the crupper and the stirrups irons, they can be found in the appropriate sections. It has been damaged underneath and so is not usable. It measures 16 inches from pommel to cantle and 19 inches from the lower frame and 14 inches across. It would be been used in conjunction with a fleece or a saddle blanket.

The shagreen was quite black when I purchased it along with the silver which I carefully cleaned with vinegar. It took some weeks to remove all the smoke stain which indicated to me it was a genuine artefact. Shagreen is shark’s skin. It is very hard when dried and has a wonderful green shine to it. The Shagreen would have been imported from China along with the silver. Shagreen was used to cover instruments boxes and other priceless items. it was very popular in Victorian times.

Purchased from Crows Auction Sale, Dorking, 2012.