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Subject:Tibetan pewter zanpar mold ?
Posted By: Daniels Tue, Sep 20, 2016 IP: 143.176.108.162

The figures on this item look a lot like the little figures on a wooden tibetan zanpar mold, a mold that is used for clay figures in some rituals.
The mold i have is made out of pewter, so i don't know it is from Tibet, Nepal.
It olso could me something completely different.
Does anyone know it is even asian or not ?
Thank you for reading.







Subject:Re: Tibetan pewter zanpar mold ?
Posted By: Daniels Wed, Sep 21, 2016

I did something wrong with the pictures, sorry.
I add three other pictures







Subject:Re: Re: Tibetan pewter zanpar mold ?
Posted By: Thayne Fri, Sep 30, 2016

It looks like the same sort of carving typically found on "Persian" seal rings. These rings often depict animals- goats, horses, etc... just as seen here. That is not to say that this item is not Tibetan though. Tibet has a very old Muslim population, and these rings I've seen quite often made from imitation turquoise, lapis and a red "turquoise" which are very typical for Tibetans to wear and which may be the only source of these synthetic stones. But then Tibetans also had close ties with Arabic neighbors in the north and west, and these materials could have been traded to people anywhere along the silk road, including the Uygurs in Xinjiang Province, another hotbed of political unrest.

I really don't know enough to say more, but I would be extremely cautious about buying Tibetan items and antiquities from China. They have been completely flooding the marketplace with items looted from political and religious prisoners, aristocratic families who lost it all, minorities and graves, much of it in an attempt to steal their rightful places in history while still making a buck, and people like those who carved your hieroglyphic panel may completely disappear off the face of the planet before we even get to know them scientifically or otherwise.








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