Chinese Leather Opera Drum

Shallow wooden bowl wears a band of black studs like a studded collar.

This opera drum is from China, and dates to the early 20th century. It is hide, wood & metal. Drums and other percussion lead the small orchestra in Chinese opera, setting the tempo and marking the entrances and the action on stage. Wide round bowl with a flat base and sloping sides, the outside covered in pale brown skin-like texture. A black band runs under the rim, with rows of dark raised dots below it. The interior is smooth reddish wood. It is 9 inches wide, 9 deep and 4.25 high.

Rustic, bumpy and not trying to be dainty.