Tibetan Women's Jewelry

Wealthy Lhasa noblewomen from the four top ranks wore gold Gaus while commoners wore the same decorative items in silver, and humble women wore them in copper or brass. Gaus contained paper prayers written by monks, small jewels or relics that symbolized liturgical objects. In fascinating interviews with the last surviving Lhasa noblewomen and master goldsmiths, author Lynn Levenberg was able to discover numerous details about the ornaments, their production, spiritual significance, and the cultural history of each type of jewelry. Headdresses, ear pendants, shoulder chatelaines, and waist ornaments are also presented, complemented by traditional garments, aprons, scarves, and shawls. Hundreds of chronologically arranged historical photographs of women from Central Tibet show how the jewelry was worn and provide a basis for dating each piece. This study thus demonstrates for the first time that the styles of all the jewelry changed considerably with each Dalai Lama, which will change the scholarly dating of Tibetan art.

Alongside the detailed and in part completely new information are also many impressive photos of jewelry pieces and local people. The Quick Read and Quick Look pages provide easy navigation and summaries of the most important information, which will teach readers how to correctly date Tibetan jewelry. An extensive Glossary of Tibetan terms and a comprehensive Bibliography complete this definitive volume, making it an illuminating and highly organized reference work for all researchers, collectors, and enthusiasts.

Tibetan Women’s Jewelry is a unique homage to the beauty of Tibetan Buddhist jewelry and an invaluable chronicle of Tibetan trade history. Spanning over 1,000 pages, this important book presents a panorama of the cultural history of Tibetan jewelry from the seventeenth century of the 5th Dalai Lama to the 14th Dalai Lama’s 1959 escapefrom the Chinese occupying forces to India.


Lynn Levenberg, president of Lynn Levenberg Ltd., New York (US), specializes in Tibetan, Nepalese, Bhutanese, Ladakhi, and Mongolian jewelry. Her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in English literature are from Columbia University (US). From 1991 to 2014, she chose and extensively researched every piece in the large Barbara & David Kipper jewelry collection. Lynn edited A World of Bracelets, the Ghysels collection, Skira Editore, Milan, 2002, and Costumes and Jewellery of Tibet by Namgyal Lhamo Taklha, the Tibet Museum, Dharamsala, 2018. Lynn Levenberg’s thirty years of research on Buddhist jewelry have made her the only knowledgeable expert in this field.