We don’t have a “normal” side table in our Chicago living room. One “table” is a South Indian Mridangam drum shown in a previous post:
And another side table is a reproduction Southeast Asian frog rain drum that we found at Chatuchak weekend market in Bangkok about 10 years ago:
I like all the crusty dirt and would go ballistic if anyone ever cleaned it all off! This is extreme close-up so it looks dirtier here than actually appears.
Please ‘scuse the cat furs stuck here — the camera shows what the eye cannot always see! The elephants are so cute.
I would vote for visiting Bangkok again to find a smaller rain drum and other pieces for our India pied a terre!
It’s very heavy and indestructible. I can move it only by rolling it an inch at a time. I wouldn’t recommend it for a home with small children running around — it has sharp edges that could cut if someone falls or bangs into them. Although some people place round glass on the four sets of frogs on the top of the drum, and that would protect from the sharp parts.
Rain drops create the rhythmic beats on these brass drums. I had fallen hard for this look when I saw an antique one for $10,000 in a Chicago shop (!!!). No can do. But then we went to Thailand on vacation and found this reproduction there. We could do this comparatively inexpensive reproduction, so we were thrilled to find it in Thailand. It fits perfect with our global style. Reproduction rain drums are more available now in the U.S. — you can even find them at Pottery Barn:
