Dong Son drums
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Dong Son drums (also called Heger Type I drums) are bronze drums fabricated by the Dong Son culture, in the Red River Delta of northern Vietnam. The drums were produced from about 600 BC until the third century AD, and are one of the culture's finest examples of metalworking.
The drums, cast in bronze using the lost wax method, are up to a meter in height and weigh up to 100 kg. Dong Son drums were apparently both musical instruments and cult objects. They are decorated with geometric patterns, scenes of daily life and war, animals and birds, and boats. The latter alludes to the importance of trade to the culture in which they were made, and the drums themselves became objects of trade and heirlooms. More than 200 have been found, across an area from eastern Indonesia to Vietnam and southern China.[1]
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[edit] Classification
In 1902, a collection of 165 large bronze drums was published by F. Heger, who subdivided them into a classification of four types.[2]
The Heger 1 drums of the Dong Son culture were classified and divided into five groups by the Vietnamese scholar Pham Huy Thong in 1990, a division that implied a chronological succession. The earliest, group A, comprisees a set of large and intricated decorated drums. Group B consists of a smaller drums who almost universally have a group of waterbirds in flight as their key motif on the tympanum and the mantle designs. Group C has a central panel on the tympanum made up of a row of plumed warriors placed inside another panel of waterbirds in flight. Toads line the tympanum's edge while the mantle was decorated with either patterns involving boats or geometric patterns.[2]
[edit] Notable drums
[edit] Ngoc Lu
The Ngoc Lu drum is regarded as the most important of the Dong Son drums. The drum was accidentally discovered in 1893 in Ha Nam Province, southeast of Hanoi, rather than during a planned expedition. In contrast to most other drums of the Dong Son, the tympanum bears three concentric panels, which depict animals or humans, interleaved with bands of geometric or circular patterns. The innermost panel appears to be a self-referencing depiction, as it is decorated with pictures of humans who appear to be performing a ceremony involving the drums themselves. Other musical instruments and rice growing and harvesting activities are also shown. The two outer panels are decorated with scenes of deer, hornbills and crane egrets.[3]
[edit] Hoang Hoa
The Hoang Hoa drum is a notable specimen of the Dong Son culture of the Bronze Age that existed in the Red River Delta in approximately the first five centuries BCE.[4]
It was discovered in Ha Son Binh Province in 1937, with an outer panel of crane egrets and an inner panel which shows a procession similar to that described in the Ngoc Lu drum, the most famous of the Dong Son drums.[4]
Four feathered men are depicted walking in a line, brandishing spears, with two musicians in tow. A person is depicted standing under the eaves of a house, beating a drum while the rice fields are unattended, allowing a bird to eat the rice that was intended for threshing. The boats depicted on the mantle of the drum are very similar, with an analogous cleft prow, archer standing on raised platform and a drum. However, the drum is different from the Ngoc Lu drum in that the dog is absent.[4]
[edit] Co Loa
The Co Loa drum is a notable specimen of the Dong Son culture of the Bronze Age that existed in the Red River Delta in approximately the first five centuries BCE.[4]
The drum shows a procession similar to that described in the Ngoc Lu drum, the most famous of the Dong Son drums. The drum only has two warriors with spears, in contrast to that of the Ngoc Lu drum. Another difference is that the ensemble of percussionists consists of three drummers, with one drum lying under the eaves of the house. Meanwhile, an extra person is depicted in the rice threshing process. The person has long hair and is winnowing grain into a bowl. The percussion ensemble is also depicted differently in that the drummers are not all drumming in synchronisation. Teo of the drummers are depicted making contact with the drum, while the other two drummers have their batons in the raised position.[4]
[edit] Song Da
The Song Da drum is a notable specimen of the Dong Son culture of the Bronze Age that existed in the Red River Delta in approximately the first five centuries BCE. It was discovered in Ha Son Binh Province in the 19th century.[5]
The drum shows a procession similar to that described in the Ngoc Lu drum, the most famous of the Dong Son drums. This drum varies in that it depicts four sets of men in procession with feathered headgear, rather than two. Also, each set comprises three or four people none of whom appear to be armed. Teh posture of the men was interpreted as that they were participating in a dance rather than a military ceremony. In this drum, only one pair of people are depicted as threshing rice, and there is no cymbal player. However, teh general motifs, such as the boats on the mantle, remain in place.[5]
[edit] Others
The Quang Xuong drum from Thanh Hoa Province is another specimen, which is believed to be possibly later in origin. However, the drum is smaller and the images are harder to interpret.[2]
Large drums found in northern Vietnam were generally in the minority, as most drums have simple decorations with fewer representations of people. The Ban Thom drum has only an inner panel comprising of four houses and plumed humans standing alone or in couples.[2]
[edit] See also
[edit] Notes
[edit] Reference
- Higham, Charles (1996). The Bronze Age of Southeast Asia. Cambridge World Archaeology. ISBN 0-521-56505-7.
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