Press Room

Warriors of the Himalayas: Rediscovering the Arms and Armor of Tibet

• Exhibition dates: April 5 - July 2, 2006
• Exhibition location: Special exhibition galleries, first floor
• Press preview: Monday, April 3, 10:00 a.m. - noon

Warriors of the Himalayas: Rediscovering the Arms and Armor of Tibet is the first comprehensive study of armor, weapons, and equestrian equipment from Tibet, a subject that has remained virtually unexplored until now. Many rare or previously unknown objects will be exhibited and published for the first time. Presenting more than 130 works, the exhibition will examine various types of unique arms and armor used in Tibet, the world's highest plateau, between the 13th and the 20th century. The objects are drawn mostly from the permanent collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art and include many key loans from the Royal Armouries Museum, Victoria and Albert Museum, Royal Museum of Scotland, the National Museums Liverpool, Pitt Rivers Museum, British Museum, University of Aberdeen, Smithsonian Institution, Yale University, and Newark Museum. The accompanying catalogue will include the first Tibetan-English arms and armor glossary of terms and a selection of excerpts from some of the few surviving Tibetan texts relating to the subject.

The exhibition is made possible by The Brine Family Charitable Trust.

Not only the birthplace of Tibetan Buddhism – one of the world's great religions – Tibet was also the scene of dramatic artistic, cultural, and political developments involving Tibetan, Mongol, Chinese, Nepalese, and other Himalayan states over the centuries. Many of these cultures left behind evocative evidence of their presence and influence in Tibet in the form of helmets, armor for men and horses, saddles, swords, archery equipment, and other arms, all of which are highly distinctive, often unique examples of previously unknown types. The exhibition will highlight stunning examples of pierced ironwork embellished with gold and silver, masterfully crafted swords and sword blades, and extremely rare examples of decorated leatherwork.

The Tibetan plateau covers an area roughly the size of Western Europe and is legendary both for its elevation and its remoteness. "Armor and weapons are certainly not among the images usually called to mind when considering the subject of Tibet, which has been identified most closely in recent decades with the pacifism and deep spirituality of the Dalai Lama and the compassionate nature of Tibetan Buddhism," commented Donald LaRocca, Curator in the Department of Arms and Armor at the Metropolitan Museum. "The seeming paradox of the existence of arms and armor from Tibet, however, is no paradox at all when seen in the context of Tibetan history, which included many extended periods of intense military activity from the seventh to the mid-20th century."

The fact that such a large quantity and wide variety of armor and weapons survived into the 20th century is remarkable but can be explained by the circumstances found in Tibet. Many of the weapons, such as matchlock muskets, swords, spears, and archery equipment, were not outmoded in the Tibetan context and therefore remained in regular use and were still being made on a regular basis up to the 20th century. Older examples, including complete armors for men and horses, were kept for use on ceremonial occasions, particularly the Great Prayer Festival, a massive event held in the Tibetan capital of Lhasa as part of the New Year celebrations at the start of each year. Another important way in which historical armor and weapons survive in regions where Tibetan Buddhism is practiced involves the long-standing and widespread tradition of placing votive arms in monasteries and temples, where they are kept in special chapels dedicated to the guardian deities of Buddhism.

Works on View
One of the distinctively Tibetan pieces in the exhibition will be the 18th- to 19th- century Armored Cavalryman, equipped with a bow and arrow and a musket (both of which could be expertly fired from horseback) and wearing a helmet and a coat of mail for protection. The figure is modeled after the armored cavalry that took part in the Great Prayer Festival, a famous event held annually in the Tibetan capital of Lhasa as part of the New Year celebrations from the 17th century onward.

Several rare and complete lamellar armors and helmets dating from the 15th to 17th century will be included in the exhibition. Superb examples, made of hundreds of small iron plates laced with leather, will be brought together here for the first time.

Many different types of helmets will also be featured in the exhibition, including multi-plate helmets made of up to 49 narrow iron plates and a helmet decorated with a popular Buddhist symbol known as the Three Jewels. Possibly the most elaborately decorated helmet from Tibet is a Mongol example with a stepped bowl made up of conical segments, lavishly adorned in gold with complex arrangements of deities and mantras. What became the classic Qing helmet style is represented by an early example from Tibet, which may be late Ming or early Qing, that is engraved with an elegant image of Buddha Shakyamuni. A few of the helmets in the exhibition, however, are so unusual as to have almost no stylistic parallels. The exhibition will feature unprecedented displays of stunning Tibetan horse armor, a type that did not exist outside of Tibet. On view will be a complete figure of a Tibetan heavy cavalryman from the 15th to the 16th century. Several shaffrons (armor for a horse's head) will also be included, one of which dates from the 14th to 15th century and is reinforced with iron plates densely embellished in gold and silver, making it the most highly decorated piece of armor of this type known.

The saddles found in Tibet are a mixture of Mongol, Chinese, and Tibetan types and styles. Elaborate and highly decorated saddles were used by Tibetan noblemen and high-ranking monastic officials on important ceremonial occasions from at least the 14th century and well into the 20th century. This exhibition will include the most important selection of decorated saddles from Tibet ever assembled in one display. The stirrups in the exhibition represent the wide variety of forms, decorative styles, and quality of stirrups found in Tibet. Tibetan bridles match the saddles with very delicately pierced fittings and chiseled ironwork of incomparable excellence. Two of the best examples to exist are included here.

Made from hundreds or even thousands of small interlocking iron rings, mail armor was used in Tibet from as early as the Yarlung Dynasty (the seventh to the ninth century), during which Tibet's empire extended through much of Central Asia. A classic example of a complete mail shirt of the 17th or the 18th century from the Himalayas is included in the exhibition, along with the accoutrements and other types of armor that would have been worn with it.

Swords were the primary hand-held weapons in Tibet from at least the seventh century through the early 20th century. In addition to their utilitarian function, they could also be clear indicators of social status, based on their quality or amount of decoration. Some of the swords included in this exhibition rank among the most elaborate and artistically accomplished examples of decorated ironwork from Tibet, such as the 14th- to 15th- century sword with a hilt entirely constructed of intricately chiseled iron decorated with gold and silver. The sword also has rich symbolic significance within Tibetan Buddhism, particularly as the Sword of Wisdom, which represents the ability to cut through spiritual ignorance, and is an important attribute of many deities, such as Manjushri.

Tibetan spears fall into two basic categories: those made for fighting and those designed for ceremonial use, both of which are well represented by excellent examples in the exhibition. A rare complete set of archery equipment also will be on view, in addition to two of the earliest surviving examples of arrow quivers used in the region. Evocative examples of archery equipment as it was worn and used in Tibet can be seen on the life-size reconstructed figure of an armored cavalryman of the 18th-19th century displayed in the exhibition and in the various photographs of the armored cavalry participating in the Great Prayer Festival in Lhasa, which are included in the catalogue.

Firearms were probably introduced into Tibet gradually during the 16th century from several sources, including China, India, and West Asia, as part of the general spread of the use of firearms throughout Asia. A variety of firearms will be represented in the exhibition, along with some particularly rare gun barrels that are decorated in gold and silver damascening.

Exhibition Catalogue
The exhibition will be accompanied by a fully illustrated catalogue, written by Donald LaRocca with contributions by Amy Heller, John Clarke, and Lozang Jamspal. It will be published by The Metropolitan Museum of Art and distributed by Yale University Press.

The exhibition catalogue is made possible by The Carl Otto von Kienbusch Memorial Fund and the Grancsay Fund.

Exhibition Credit
Warriors of the Himalayas is organized by Donald J. LaRocca, Curator in the Department of Arms and Armor at the Metropolitan Museum. A variety of educational programs will be offered in conjunction with the exhibition, including gallery talks, school tours, and films.

The exhibition will be featured on the Museum's website (www.metmuseum.org).

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January 31, 2006