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Antique SE Asian Rain Drum

 

A large and exceptionally beautiful bronze rain drum measuring 60 cm in diameter with a uniform deep green native oxide patina. The style is characteristic of drums from the Northern Vietnam and Lao region. It's decorated with fish, birds, flowers, and other aquatic life arranged in many concentric bands that represent ripples in a pond.  A twelve-point star occupies the center while  four case bronze frogs stand along the periphery  The last band on the edge of the drum is in the shape an intertwined rope.

 

The sides of the drum are equally decorated with similar images along with two pairs of double ‘rope’ handles for hanging the drum from rope. The entire drum including the frogs and handles is cast as a single piece using the lost-wax method.

 

Rain drums date back as far as 500 B.C. to the Dong Song Culture in the North of Vietnam and have probably been made ever since. The style here is often attributed to somewhere between to 13th to 17th century.

 

Images

 

 

 

Very High Resolution Image

 

 

  

 

 

Details

 

 

     

   

 

 

 

Images from the National Museum of Vietnam in Hanoi