Tibetan Woman’s Ga’u Box

This fine ga’u box of a type known as a khedi in Lhasa would have been worn by a Tibetan woman. Of oval form, it has a hammered silver front with applied cartouches of silver and gold chased scrollwork around a central turquoise cabochon in 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 very good example of this type. The decoration is particularly crisp and intricate, and yet the age of the piece if fully evident.