Featured Thai dancer figure

I just got this and was wondering if it has any history to it or a basic souvenir one might buy while visiting Thialand. Is has some real age but unsure if it is measuable. Brass is my guess(magnet fail). No markings.


I can not find any online that have the flare out flaps in his skirt(dont know the actual name for it). And also unsure of the seemingly collapsed pedistal that was obviously made that way(maybe fairly new??)

Any thoughts?

 

I think this is one for the Aussie Dragon man. It looks like a Thai dancer to me, but I wouldn't know in which particular role. They are often called court dancers, and may originally have been attached to the court, but they danced in our hotel as well.

 

Thank you both for your information. I spent the pasy hour and a half and i wasnt able to find him anywhere. Not even a similar pedistal amoung hundreds of pages....... and then, there it was....*click*..... I found it on this website, hehehehehe

Talk about a fast search engin......

 

Just keeping you entertained until @AuDragon finds the time.

Thai culture and those of Cambodia and Laos are closely related. It can be difficult to pinpoint something.
I can't remember seeing these when I was in Thailand in 1970, but then I probably wasn't looking. Generally Thai bronzes were more refined, they still are.
So possibly a regional or older souvenir, or both. Or simply made somewhere else.
I don't see any religious significance, other than the character the dancer could be portraying.

 

Love any information I can get,

Found these two images, one being an old photo of Thai thearter,
“Ravana (Totsakan) the demon king fighting the white monkey”, I find the outfit to be very similar to the figure.
And the other a figure that has a similar face and pedistal(no other pedistal on other figures have this shape) although bronze(?) seems very different in color. Additionally, this is the same size as the one I have.

 

Those are both different from your dancer.
Your dancer is not Ravanna, because it is not wearing a demon mask.
The second figure is standing on a lotus throne, which in Hinduism and certain types of Buddhism is reserved for divinities. The dress is also very different.

If you just google photos of Thai dancers, you will find many like your bronze.

 

My eyes are getting older by the minute. Thank you Ms Jewelry, for your observation.

 

@Any Jewelry , “Aussie Dragon man”, lol, yes I googled it..... hehehe funny girl

 

Hi mmarco,
There are three main types of Thai dance; Khon, which is the most traditional, performed by males (and more recently females) in costumes and masks with an orchestra and chorus telling the story; Lakhon which has more stories and folktales, performed by females who tell the story as a group; Fawn Thai traditionally for Royal performances but now more public.

The Khon dancers use masks and costumes to represent demons, monkeys, humans and celestial beings. The main story is Ramakien the Thai version of the Indian/Hindu epic Ramayana (AJ refers to this in some of her excellent descriptions).

Your figure is from the Ramakien and probably male. I think the hand on the left as you look at the picture probably means falling fruit and the hand on the right means leaves, but it is difficult to tell. I am not sure which part of the story this comes from. You often see his headdress in vibrant colours and with elaborate detail.

I think your figure is more a souvenir as Thai bronze figures are generally cast and of high quality and detail. Yours isn't quite showing the attention to detail I would expect and doesn't appear that old.

 

Thank you very much for that great explanation. I truely enjoy hearing backgrounds to objects I find. I too felt my dancer to be a souvenir, just hoping it wasn’t real current.

Thank you again @AuDragon

 

I meant AuDragon, who had already been tagged by i need help.