Tibetan Woman’s Ga’u Box

This small, fine ga’u box is of a type known as a khedi in Lhasa and would have been worn by a Tibetan woman. It comprises two halves that fit together: a silver front and a copper back.

Of oval form, it has a hammered silver front that has been chased in high relief with Himalayan scrollwork around a central coral cabochon repurposed bead in a high box setting.

The bottom is decorated with a stylised thunderbolt emblem beneath which there is a further loop. The top has a long silver tube through which a cord would have been threaded to allow the ga’u to be suspended from the neck.

The back comprises hammered copper sheet.

Ga’us functioned as talismanic or protective devices and would enclose items such as mantras written on small scraps of paper and other such things that would help protect the wearer from all manner of ills and dangers.

This box is a good example of its type. The decoration is crisp, and yet the age of the piece if fully evident.