Amulet box / ga'u

53.97.3

Part of

Tibet collection

This internationally significant collection of over 2,000 Tibetan objects gives an insight into the lives of British India officers connected to Tibet and the Himalayas.

Exhibition

Currently on display in World Cultures, Level 3, World Museum

See it at:

About this object

This shrine-shaped charm box or ga'u is decorated in fine repoussé work with the Eight Auspicious Buddhist Emblems. Inside is a small tsa-tsa – a clay plaque pressed out of a mould – which shows the historical Buddha.

Related blog

Making connections through online collections

Sometimes, correcting mistakes found in the museum’s records leads to new and completely unexpected connections.

Object specifics

Type

Religion; Container
Culture

Tibetan
Artist/Maker

Unknown or unrecorded
Place made

Asia: Central Asia: Tibet [China]
Date made

20th Century early
Materials

Clay; Glass; Copper; Silver; Pigment; Textile
Location

World Museum, Level 3, World Cultures
Acquisition

From the Collection of Francis Younghusband
Collector

Smythe, Frank; Younghusband, Francis Edward
Place collected

Asia: Central Asia: Tibet [China]: Ü-Tsang
Date collected

1904
Measurements

132 mm x 105 mm x 52 mm
Note

Curator's note: Even in 1953, the provenance of certain objects within this acquisition (specifically items 1-7 in this accession) were unclear. Elaine Tankard was never able to get a definitive answer on certain items and whether or not they came from Frank Smythe or Francis Younghusband as Mrs Smythe and Eileen Younghusband's items were brought together before they came into the museum and whose was whose does not seem to have been confirmed, as it was noted from the documentation in the archives, that certain items with Frank Smythe had been given to him by Younghusband. Written by Emma Martin.
Related people

Frank Smythe (Collector); Francis Edward Younghusband (Collector)

Explore related

Events

Mission to Lhasa 1903-1904

Start date: 1903
End date: 1903
Description: The British Mission to Tibet during 1903 and 1904 was an invasion of southern Tibet by British Indian forces on the pretence of negotiating trade relations between Tibet and British India. However, this was instigated primarily in the hope of preventing the Russian Empire from interfering in Tibetan affairs and thus gaining a base in one of the buffer states surrounding British India. The expedition was led by Colonel (later Sir) Francis Younghusband. It had a damaging effect on the British reputation, many Tibetans were killed and monasteries and houses were looted and/or destroyed along the way. The 13th Dalai Lama feld Lhasa before the arrival of the expedition and Younghusband negotiated, a soon to be repelled, convention with the Tibetan government or Kashag in Lhasa that was signed in the Potala on 7 Septmber 1904.

Explore the collection by...

Object view = Humanities
No non-av media found
Have 21 place tagsPage load time: 249 ms