Metalwork has been used to create Asian statues and decorative pieces for millennia. The earliest metalwork items were ritual vessels for worshipping or presenting offerings to ancestors and the gods, objects celebrating important events in the lives of rulers and ancestors, or images of gods and deities worshipped by devotees. Our collection has fine metalwork items made either using the lost wax casting method or by casting pieces using a mold. The lost wax produces a one-of-a-kind work of art because the mold is damaged, altered or destroyed during or after its use as exemplified by utilitarian and religious item made by Indian Dhorka metalsmiths. Molded pieces can produce multiple versions most often using bronze, brass, iron and metal alloys with smaller works made using gold and silver Originally only for the rich and imperially sanctioned, especially in China, metals were later used to make utilitarian vessels and utensils, ceremonial, ritualistic. decorative and religious objects, architectural ornamentation, personal ornament, weapons, armor and bells. Metal craft techniques include repousse, hammering, embossing, cloisonné, enameling among others. Thai, Burmese and Nepalese items in our site including Buddha images, are generally mold made using bronze, brass, and other copper alloys.
Showing 1–12 of 21 results
Nandi is among the most frequent Hindu deities worshiped in public places, temples, homes, or on a home altar throughout India. As one of Hinduism’s mythical animals, Nandi is Shiva’s vahana, (his mount that transports him), attendant and leader of his attendants and guardian of all four-footed animals. A recumbent image of Nandi on a…
Hand-made metal Nepalese 7-level stupa/pagoda with decorative details around the base and round eaves with scalloped edges used for personal worship.
Made in the Meiji era (1868-1912),this hand crafted antique Japanese cast iron tetsubin teapot has an unusual decorative handle and curved spout and has a beautiful relief design of galloping horses. Horses have been revered creatures in Japanese culture that embody grace, power and nobility. The knob on the lid probably represents a lotus, the Buddhist symbol of purity and enlightenment. As with all antiques, these pieces are purely decorative for display purposes only.
The hand crafted Tetsubin teapot displays simple yet elegant design: a scalloped top, gently curved handle, and short rounded spout, textured surface. The body is divided in 4 quadrants with meander border designs and the lid is has tiny diamond shaped indentations and is topped with a lotus shaped knob. A raised manufacturers seal on the back. Like all old Tetsubin cast iron kettles, it has rust on the bottom which can be removed by boiling green tea inside it, and is thus for display purposes only.
Prehistoric Thai Bronze Age jewelry, adzes and tools have been found all over Thailand. Excavations from various soil levels show many sites had been inhabited for millennia. They confirm the existence of an early, well-developed metallurgical tradition of bronze digging and cutting tools, adzes (ancient axe like tools to cut wood), adult and child’s bronze…
Dhorka brass lost wax grain and rice measuring bowl. One-of-a-kind intricately decorated with horizontal and triangular striations. Bowls were symbol of Hindu goddess Lakshmi placed on home altars for puja.
Dhorka brass lost wax grain and rice measuring bowl. One-of-a-kind intricately decorated with horizontal and triangular striations. Bowls were symbol of Hindu goddess Lakshmi placed on home altars for puja.
Fine Fulani round manilla bracelet with parallel ridges over most of surface resembling a twisted metal pieces, topped with extended flat boss/knob in center.
Found in Nigeria, this large C-shaped beautiful antique manilla has rounded smooth surface with fine etched linear design, circles, swirls, stipples, and V-shapes. Fine aged patina, comes with wood and metal stand.
This Hindu prayer bell was likely placed on a home or temple altar and used in daily puja rituals. It has a smooth and undecorated body with only incised parallel rings circling plain surfaces and is topped by a Garuda pair sheltered by Naga hoods. Garuda, Vishnu’s mythical winged bird mount, and Naga, a seven-headed hooded serpent, are natural enemies but when they are represented together, they symbolizes peace, a very appropriate adornment for the tranquility and serenity elicited by the pleasing sounds of a prayer bell.
This brass oil lamp diya is decorated with an image on front and back of Lakshmi seated on a lotus, full-breasted and broad hipped, beneficently smiling and being lustrated (showered by water) by elephants, symbolizing rain clouds bringing water and life to the land and that unwavering effort to adhere to spiritual teachings and governed by wisdom and purity leads to both material and spiritual prosperity.
This Tibetan Repoussé image presents various symbols of the Enlightenment of the Shakyamuni-Buddha. He sits within a trefoil arch on a lotus base (padmapitha) under the bodhi tree in bhumisparsha mudra (earth witnessing or hand touching position) symbolizing the moment of his enlightenment legs bent in (padmasana). The detailed trefoil arch surrounding the Buddha’s head…
End of content
End of content