Tibet was closed off to outsiders for centuries (the forbidden country). During the first part of the 20th century a Japanese man penetrated Tibet after learning  the Tibetan language. He managed to remain undetected for 2 years before he was discovered to be a non Tibetan and ejected. During the chaos following  World War II Tibet opened up very briefly for about 3 years, then the Chinese annexed Qinghai and occupied the rest of Tibet and again it was closed off.  Tibet was a serfdom for centuries, with a few wealthy land owners and about 2.5 million serfs when the Communists took over. Very little art, furniture or other articles moved out of Tibet. The art and furniture was the exclusive domain of the various Tibetan Monks at monasteries through out Tibet.  The art and furniture always had Buddhist icons painted or carved on them.
      The Red Guard, approximately 11 million teenagers and very young adults, began the Cultural Revolution in the mid 1960s. There objective was to ferret out all of the old culture and usher in a new life and culture. They set about to destroy all things Buddhist. They became a law unto them selves. They rampaged until 1976 and were very effective in destroying all things of the old culture, going into peoples homes and in total destroyed over 6000 Tibetan buddhist temples and Monasteries. Very little survived these 11 million cultural destroyers that had 12 years to rampage the country.
      True Tibetan antiques are extremely rare, at the heigth of population there were 2.5 million Tibetans and most were nomads, following the crops and grazing grounds. These nomads had very little to begin with and after the Cultural Revolution they had even less.
     Tibetan furniture was rarely painted on the top, except for a brief time after the Chinese occupation. It is usually made from Asian Cedar as this best weathers the dry climate and low humidity of the Tibetan Plateau which has an elevation of 12,000 to 15,000 feet above sea level. Regong or Wutun style art dominates the Tibetan art and furniture styles, as this was and continues to be the pre-emminate art academy for the region.
     The Regong style features barbola, a raised feature outlining and highlighting the art. The themes are always Buddhist and have one or more teachings evident. The lotus flower, ashoka and camp flowers are the usual flowers in that order of importance and frequency of appearance that will appear on almost every Tibetan piece of art. From the the 13th century until the middle of the 19th century the painting on the furniture was painted on a cloth that was glued to the furniture. This cloth would stop just short of the edge and the painting would continue past the edge of the cloth. The furniture was always coated with a wax and oil mixture, on older pieces prior to 1800 you should be able to see the separation of the wax from the oil.
    It is always best to get a certificate of authenticity with any purchase of Tibetan furniture or art if you are looking for true antiques.  Certificates that state "to the best of our knowledge" are worthless. The market is currently flooded with newly mass produced Tibetan Antiques. There still exist some smaller metal items that are authentic that were stolen by the occupying forces, these will have a patters mark on the bottom. The patters mark looks a 4 petalled flower and represents the 4 nobel truths. Even these patters marks are being forged now.