Seller Notes
The possibility exists that the original casting of this drum was meant to have stacks of three frogs around the tympanum, now only stacks of two exist, in addition it appears that three elephants were intended as well as three snails. Dark variegated verdigris greenish patina. One crack to the edge of tympanum, two frogs without heads, on the body pin holes and thin casting areas, some fortified and 4 cracks emanating from the base, one with some bronze loss, otherwise the overall surface patina is consistent with age and use, good condition with some losses. Note: It was customary for the Karen to bury pieces of a drum with the dead, for the drums were also used in funerary rites and it was believed that having a piece of bronze with the dead would protect the afterlife of the deceased. This drum may have been consistently modified for balancing out the proportions in having experienced just such a loss.
