Country Group: South and Southeast Asia (Thailand, Burma, Laos, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Vietnam)

Item id: 1083

This is an authentic bronze Burmese Rain Drum, probably from the 18th century. It is part of a group of 8 drums which I bought as a group from a large estate about a year ago. They were collected in 1972 by an American in Air America (CIA) who was based in eastern Thailand. As per his relative who was dispersing the estate, he bought the group of drums in Luang Prabang (Laos) as he flew Americans in and out of Laos. Research has determined that these drums have been made for hundreds of years (perhaps most of a millennium) by the Karen people. They are primarily made in Burma, and even the ones which have long been in Laos and Thailand are old imports from Karen groups in Burma. Seven of the drums I have are this type, either single frog or triple frogs on top. They vary in what they have on the sides- some are quite fancy and some are plain. The finest one has small perfect lizards encircling the entire bottom of the drum, and has magnificent metal work on the side. It is the finest 19th century Karen drum I have ever seen anywhere. The collection also included one Han drum originating from southern China (Yunnan) dating from 200 b.c. to 200 a.d . This drum is quite valuable, and rare to find in complete condition. I’ll be listing a few on my website- I am open to selling the entire collection for the right price. This one is 19 by 26 inches. It is one of the best in the collection and is quite rare in that it has 3 snails and 3 elephants climbing up the side. It has a 12 pointed star in the middle, and all of the detail typically found on an authentic drum. Guaranteed to be authentic. There is a vast difference between these drums and the copies (even the wax cast ones) on the market. This should be crated and trucked to be safe, which will cost extra. Please do not confuse this with the copies, or the later simple drums. The authentic old high quality ones are rare, valuable, and qualitatively different- look at the photos.