An antique 19th Century or earlier (much earlier) tsakli painting in mineral pigments and burnished gold, depicting one of the '3 sensory offerings' - this one of taste.
A burnished gold offering dish containing a ritual cake offering (Torma).
Such torma are usually offered to wrathful or semi-wrathful deities, and are hand moulded from coloured yak butter and barley flour.
They are decorated to the top with a sun disc and a crescent moon as in this example, which is of burnished gold.
Torma often incorporate medicinal substances - the 'three whites' - milk, curd and butter;
the '3 sweets' - sugar, molasses and honey, or the '25 precious ingredients' called the 'five by five'. 9.9 x 12cm