Indian Mold for Plaque Amulet

Crowned figure strides across a house-shaped plaque with a beaded border.

This mold for a plaque amulet is Hindu, from Rajasthan, India. It is bronze. Metal molds let a relief design be repeated across many small objects, a practical method long used for making devotional plaques and amulets in South Asia. Flat plaque with a pointed top and a ring of small beads around a framed field. A standing figure with a tall headdress and draped garments is cast in low relief, flanked by smaller forms. Green traces gather in the recesses of the tan surface. It is 1.25 inches wide, 1.5 deep and 0.25 high.

A lot of story squeezed into a very flat space.