S925 Silver Treasure Bowl Gau Box Pendant

Gau is the Tibetan word for a small portable shrine. A herder leaving home puts an image, a strip of scripture, a pill, a lock of a lama's hair into a small box, hangs it round his neck and carries it wherever he goes. A box survives a knock better than a statue does and takes up less room, which is why it spread so widely on the plateau. The face of the box usually carries a pattern, and the more important the contents the thicker the box is made. Smaller versions exist for the belt, a size down from the ones worn at the chest.

On this one the face is worked as a treasure bowl, heaped with sycees and strings of coins, with an auspicious beast squatting at the rim to keep watch over them. The legend of the bowl attaches to Shen Wansan, who is said to have owned one in which whatever was placed multiplied of its own accord. Story aside, the bowl as a form has a long history in Chinese objects and carries the sense of gathering; it was never part of the Tibetan gau, and here two sets of meaning are put into one object. The rim is flanged and the sycees are heaped inside it without spilling over, which is a small compositional discipline rather than an accident.

The workmanship is hardest at the seam. Lid and body have to meet: too wide a gap and nothing stays inside, too tight and the lid will not come off, so a little clearance is left and friction does the holding. Silver is ductile, and after enough openings the fit loosens. When it does, shim it with a slip of thin paper; do not reach for pliers, which will deform the box in one squeeze. Open it with both hands supporting the sides. Hook one side with one finger and that side will lift first, and after a year of it the lid sits crooked.

The beast on this kind of object has no fixed name; lion, pixiu and suanni are all applied to it. Folk saying has it that the pixiu has a mouth and no vent, so it takes in and lets nothing out, and therefore guards wealth. That is a piece of wordplay rather than a classical allusion, and it is best mentioned briefly. The beast sits on the rim with its head turned outward, which is the guarding posture; turn it inward and it becomes a beast eating, and the meaning reverses.

Worn on the body, the box taps lightly against the chest as you walk, and some people like the sound of it. Think before filling it: a silver box does not breathe, so paper and cloth are safe, but damp herbs will mould and will darken the inner walls as well. The inside does not need polishing; a rougher surface is better, because the contents do not slide about. Wipe the outside with a soft cloth and keep water out of the seam. Water that gets into the seam corrodes the silver from the inside outward, with nothing to see until it has gone right through.