Photos

Comments

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  Patricia Deany March 8, 2013 at 11:09am

  Could be Buddhist amulet cases -- gau
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  Thelma March 8, 2013 at 11:13am

  Yes, these look like women's Llasa-style ga'us. 19century. But the hooks for hanging need to be at the top and the dorjes at the bottom.
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  Marie-Ange March 8, 2013 at 1:42pm

  Yes Tibetan Ghau
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  Alaa eddine SAGID March 8, 2013 at 6:16pm

  Thanx ladies.

  I was presuming these to come from tibet but no idea on age!!
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  Linda Pastorino March 8, 2013 at 7:13pm

  Late 19th or early 20th c made up to time Dalai Llama fled,, wearing was not possible easily within Tibet after wards  but these were used all over Northern India ,, Ladakh, Himachel to some extent, Sikkim, Nepal.  Style of the box indicates usually where they are from however some are rather generic and do look similar to Tibetan.. Lynn Levenberg a member of sight is writing about gaus and might know exactly where they are from. The problem though is that things are made some times in one place and then the style gets copied or adapted else where. Since there are ;pockets of Tibetan communities living in various hill stations under Tibet proper also this style was used in many areas.  The fact that they are silver and not gold attests to them being used by less wealthy individuals and in the small villages.  These are both old and real and used as such and are not fakes which much of the Tibetan jewelry on the market is now.
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  Joost Daalder March 11, 2013 at 6:11am

  Linda says it all, as far as I am concerned! An excellent, comprehensive and factual account.
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  howah March 11, 2013 at 10:03pm

  Hi Ayis, on this photo you can see the lady wearing similar shaped gau on a necklace.

  
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  Lynn Levenberg August 11, 2014 at 2:34am

  Yes, they're both old Tibetan gaus that were made in Central Tibet.  The work is too crude to have been made in Lhasa, however.  They were probably made in Tsang Province, S. Tibet.  However, you photographed them wrong.  The vajra (Tibetan: Dorje) on a Tibetan gau always goes on the bottom.  At the top is a hollow tube for a necklace.  Gaus with vajras on the bottom were only worn by women.  These are both silver or copper, so they belonged to humble women.  Noblewomen only wore gold gaus.  Because the four appendages on the sides are quite pointed, these date to the 1910s.  When the appendages are rounded, they date from the 19th century, like the one the S. Tibetan or Bhutia woman in Howah's picture is wearing.  I seem to remember that this picture dates from the 1880's.  Perhaps Howah can give us the source & date of the picture.  The gau on the left has a turquoise flower in the middle while the one on the right has a Treasure vase (Tib: Bumpa). The four red triangles on the left hand gau are not made of glass.  They are lac, which once held more turquoises that have now fallen out.  Linda, why was wearing gaus not easily possible after the 13th Dalai Lama fled?
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  Thelma August 11, 2014 at 2:04pm

  Yes, I always thought the vajra went at the bottom but then I received this gau recently where it seems to have been designed deliberately to go at the top. I wondered if there was any significance in having it at the top. I'm afraid the gau has been stored in a box and is still rather dirty. I really know very little about it.
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  Thelma August 11, 2014 at 2:30pm

  Except, of course, I do know that the gau is a representation of a deity... Lord Shiva .. which makes it slightly different from the gaus which Alaa has shown. But does this make a difference to the position of the vajra?