Brass statue of mounted warrior-Indian?

[olikara]

Andy,
It is a nice piece that your friend picked up. It is art work done by the Tribals of the Bastar and Orissa regions of India.

The Lost Wax method of making sculpture is still practised in those areas of India. The trappings on the horse are very typical of that area and that is the give away.

However, I am not qualified enough to tell you what period the figure is from. But 9 chances out of 10 are that it is recently made. In India the tourist trade is diverse as in perhaps all other countries. So we find items from Bastar or Bengal being sold to tourists in Kashmir and Kashmiri carpets being sold to tourists visiting Madras which is 3000 kms. away.

A nice piece nonetheless.