The anthropology artifacts collection contains a wide range of items that document the material culture from around the world and was received as gifts. The artifact descriptions were created from existing information created near the time of acquisition as well as research conducted by students.
Brass, crescent shaped dish hanging from a chain. On both sides of this dish there are cravings of deer-like animals and Indian symbols. There is residual burn left from incense or candles. The chain is links of brass and goes from tip to tip of the dish.
References Cited: Beer, Robert
2003. The Handbook of Tibetan Buddist Symbols. pp 262. Serindia Publications, Inc.
Culture Area: Tibet
Date Acquired: [Unknown]
Dimensions: 13.3 cm, 7.4 cm, 5.8 cm, the chain is 22.4 cm
Donor: [Unknown]
General Area of the World: India
Material: brass
Outline of Cultural Materials Code: 301, 780, 782, 788
Outline of World Cultures Code: AW42
Use and Background: This artifact was very hard to narrow down because there are a lot of uses of lamps in India. There was not a lot of information given for this artifact to begin with. The two deer facing each other represents the Buddha's first discourse (Beer 2003). The gender of the deer cannot be determinded because of the lack of detail, but they are assumed to be one male and one female. The symbols between the deer could not be determined as something legible from the etching I took. Candles and incense are both used during worship and from the remaining wax in the lamp, something wazy was used.
