Title: “BAO GA’U”
(Meaning, “honored amulet box” in Chinese
and pronounced, “bow gow”)
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Size: 35.75” W x 51” H
(unframed) Sold
Story:
Long ago, between the 8th and 12th centuries, beautiful containers or “ga’us” held protective diagrams and clay amulets for protection from the, shall we say, darker spirits of a capricious nature. These talismans would accompany travelers on infamously dangerous journeys such as across the Himalayas to and from India. Many travelers wore them front and back and on the sides to protect from evil in all directions. Even their beasts of burden would wear ga’us for protection. In today’s world of science and certainty, I find these shrines a wonderful bulwark against that that I don’t know. And a reminder that there is much I don’t know.
Materials:
A late 1800s Tibetan ga’u, topped with 1800s Chinese bronze flower basket (repeated at top) accented with ribbons of early 1800s thangka cloth from Tibet, resting on wood that is molded and sculpted in Yixing plaster using a 16th century prayer book cover then painted and rubbed with gold, with a band from a late 1800s fragment of a Tibetan thangka with suspended tassels from an early 1800s Uzbekistan horse headdress, flanked with late 1700s thangka cloth from Tibet, with strips of antique Indian sari cloth, with 18th century Chinese cash coins affixed with melted wax collected from temples and monasteries, all on canvas covered board, with molded and sculpted Yixing plaster (also used on outside border with copper leaf acid washed with sulfur), formed using antique Japanese chops and fabric stamps, then painted and rubbed in gold paint, with a segment of a late 1800s Tibetan folk woman’s costume with oxhide and forged iron with wood folk embroidery and metal ornaments made of "zang ying" metal (at bottom) crowned with a mid 1800s Chinese dragon carving with Artist created suspended bronze in dragon motif (also at 4 corners), resting on a basket weave of handmade Japanese papers all resting on iridescent painted panel with insets of antique thunder and cloud motif on canvas with wraps of antique wool Indonesian fabric.
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Click for enlarged
section of art.
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Click for enlarged
section of art.
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