{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O87346"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O87346/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2024NU5785/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2024NU5785/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2024NU5785","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2024NU5786","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2024NU5787","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2024NU5788","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2020MN6093","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006AF4990","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O87346/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O87346","accessionNumber":"IM.171-1910","objectType":"Amulet box","titles":[],"summaryDescription":"This woman's amulet case or <i>ga'u</i> was used to hold rolled prayers and blessed or holy objects believed to protect the wearer from evil. \r\n\r\nThe front of this case is covered in filigree decoration and a coral carved in the form of a tantric deity. Newar (Nepali) craftsmen were well known for their skill in both of these techniques and the style of the amulet is typical for a Tibetan woman from Lhasa. This piece may have been made in Lhasa by a Newar metalworker. Such boxes were worn suspended on a strap or sash across the shoulder or around the waist when travelling.","physicalDescription":"A square woman's amulet case or ga'u, used to contain rolled prayers and other holy or blessed objects that are believed to give protection from evil to the wearer.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Unknown","id":"A1848"},"association":{"text":"","id":""},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"brass","id":"AAT10946"},{"text":"copper-gilt","id":"x29394"}],"techniques":[{"text":"embossed","id":"AAT53826"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Brass and copper gilt","categories":[],"styles":[{"text":"Nepalese style","id":"x32274"}],"collectionCode":{"text":"SSEA","id":"THES48598"},"images":["2024NU5785","2024NU5786","2024NU5787","2024NU5788","2020MN6093","2006AF4990"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"CA014","id":"THES413395"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Amulet box","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Tibet","id":"x29910"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"late 19th century","earliest":"1850-01-01","latest":"1900-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Purchased from the dealer Mr Imre Schwaiger","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Length","value":"9.5","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"9.5","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"Provenance: Purchased from Imre Schwaiger in 1910, a well-known art dealer of Hungarian descent, with offices in London and colonial India (Delhi, Bombay, Calcutta, and Simla). This acquisition was part of a collection of Indian and Tibetan objects purchased by the V&A from Schwaiger in 1910 for £1000. \r\n\r\nA total of forty-nine objects produced or acquired in Tibet were procured from Schwaiger between 1910 and 1919, but it remains challenging to determine when, where and how they were acquired. In the V&A archives, we have some indication that some of the Tibetan objects from Schwaiger may have been looted or otherwise acquired in Tibet during the British military assault led by Colonel Francis Younghusband in 1903-04. However, recent scholarship by Dr Emma Martin (<i>Past & Present</i>, 2025) also establishes that Schwaiger acquired Tibetan objects in colonial India. He had cultivated close ties with the British colonial administration in India and was approached to appraise and acquire Tibetan objects from the 'Toshakhana', a British-instituted treasury that collected and processed diplomatic gifts. Some of the Tibetan objects collected by Schwaiger in India may have been diplomatic gifts from Tibet and its representatives, such as those sent by the thirteenth Dalai Lama, Thubten Gyatso, to the Viceroy of India, Charles Hardinge, and other British representatives during the Shimla Convention negotiations in 1913-14. According to Martin, the toshkhana also sold off diplomatic gifts received by colonial officers and agents based at British trading stations inside Tibet at Yatung, Gyantse, and Gartok.","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Nepalese style Amulet Case, brass and copper-gilt, Central Tibet, late 19th century.","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"John Clarke, Jewellery of Tibet and Himalayas, 2004, V&A Publications, page 78."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Emma Martin, Tibetan gift-giving, British indifference, and the erasure of provenance in colonial india, <i>Past & Present</i>, 2025."}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["IM.171-1910"],"accessionNumberNum":"171","accessionNumberPrefix":"IM","accessionYear":1910,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2026-03-10","recordCreationDate":"2003-12-15","availableToBook":false}}