516. Tibetan Silver Amulet Box or Ga’u (gau)

Woman’s Silver Ga’u inset with Turquoise

Amulet boxes or ga’us such as this one were worn by women and were very popular in the border areas of west and south Tibet. The central motif is a stylised lotus bud infilled with turquoise chips and surrounded by applied pearled silver filigree wire.

The

ga’u was worn suspended from the top gadrooned tube, which shows considerable wear. The lower decoration is a stylised dorje ornament which hangs at the bottom when worn. Common to most such ga’us this example has a copper backing plate which sits in the ga’u.

a similar ga’u is illustrated in Clarke, J., Jewellery of Tibet and the Himalayas, V&A Publications, 2004, p. 85.