Tibetan Traveling Shrine

Tibetan traveling shrines, known as Gau, were believed to offer protective powers and were used to hold and carry sacred objects during long journeys. Buddhist followers would have brought this intricate gau with them on religious pilgrimage to a temple or holy site. The brass shrine is decorated in repoussé with the cintamani, or jewel of immortality, a protective demon, and the eight auspicious signs, including the wheel, the lotus, and the golden fish. These intricate symbols surround a central glass panel displaying a small polychromed Buddhist deity held within the shrine.