Tibetan Gao or Prayer Box

A small square shrine, tarnished and tender.

Tibetan makers created this gao, or prayer box, in silver in the 19th century. Gao are commonly worn as amulet cases and portable shrines, and may hold small images, relics or blessings. This one is a small square, framed in dark metal with a loop at the top, and a painted image of a seated white deity behind glass, rendered in red, green and blue. The silver has aged to a worn gray, and the painting is faded but clear.

About two inches square. Pocket-sized, and quietly powerful.