House No. 40: Mongolian Ger
ink, colored pencil, and watercolor on paper, digital layout8.5 in. x 11 in.
040/365; 02/09/11
Ger, the home of the nomadic Mongolians, are unquestionably the most luxurious in the history of mobile homes. Created with a wooden structure covered by fabric tarps and rugs, blankets, and skins to insulate the structure, they are lined with tapestries, heated, and furnished.
This is not the kind of camping that you and I know. This makes even an RV look like squatting.
While I have never seen a Ger in real life, there was an amazing facsimile of a Ger interior in the exhibition design of The Legacy of Genghis Khan: Courtly Art and Culture in Western Asia, 1256–1353, that I had the fortune of seeing at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 2002.
I could have moved in right there. The Mongol Empire, they knew how to travel in style.
Off topic, that was likely the most beautifully designed exhibition that I have ever seen. And the artwork was amazing. I was lost in there for hours.
I suspect the Ger may have been part of the inspiration for the set designers who created the tents in the Harry Potter films.
