Round Silver and Copper Embossed Tibetan Gao or Prayer Box

Round Tibetan Gao or Prayer box with copper side and base and tibetan silver embossed top.

Followers of Tibetan Buddhism make use of a type of prayer box known as a Gao (sometimes spelled "Gau" or "Ghau"). Gao boxes are portable shrines in which images of the owner’s personal deities are kept, together with other sacred objects. The front side is silver and is richly embossed with the Eight Auspicious Symbols of Buddhism. These symbols of good fortune represent the offerings made by the gods to Shakyamuni Buddha immediately after he gained enlightenment. Inside is a figure of Green Tara, also known as Jetsun Dolma in Tibetan. She is a female Buddha linked with Buddhist tantra practice in Tibetan Buddhism. She is called the "mother of liberation" and stands for success in work and achievements. She rests on a bed of written prayers on fabric filling the whole box inside. The back and side wall of the Gao is made of copper and it can be opened from the back.