Painted Door (Primary Title)

This painted door likely once safeguarded the entrance to a monastery’s gonkang, a shrine housing wrathful protector deities and a precinct accessible only to the most advanced practitioners. Its flaming skulls and weapons would have warded off evil spirits, intruders, and those not properly initiated to enter its sanctum. The chevron-shaped lappets along the bottom recall colorful textile hangings that in other contexts might have served this same demarcating function.