letter-book

painted and lacquered wood
Tibet (Lhasa-area), late 19th cent.
size each leave: 19,5 x 5 cm.

These `books’ were used by the nobility to write letters to each other: the black pages were whitened with tsampa-flour, and one could write with a wooden stilus. After reading one could erase the text and use it again. The outer sides were often, like here, painted in Chinese style.