Allegories of Kingship: A Preliminary Study of a Western Central Asian Gold Ewer in the Royal Court of Tibet

Between the 7thand 9thcenturies of the Common Era, not only did the royal nomadic court of the Tibetan Empire rise to the stage in imperial history, but its members also became keen connoisseurs and great collectors of Asia. In the process of appropriating the arts and technologies from the cultures around them, the Tibetan elite never failed to adapt and transform these materials to their own tastes. In this way, by the middle of the 7thcentury, the royalnouveaux richesof Tibet fashioned their court in a manner befitting the grandeur of their rapid ascent to power