Featured Nandi ring- comments please

Hi all,I found this ring on the general assortment table. What do you all think of it? Possible age? The cast/quality and look of the bull (specially the head detail) looks odd/crappy to me. Looks brass but there’s some silver looking areas? Thank you for any comments

 

For its potential age, maybe not. An' it looks not so much like a bull...as a camel, to me.

 

The silvery areas might be solder. The ring looks well worn.

Here are some comparisons, if you haven't already seen them -

https://www.instagram.com/p/DJpTlqYSmio/

https://www.michaelbackmanltd.com/object/south-indian-lingayat-sect-nandi-ring/

 

Good point regarding possible age. I agree,I was also thinking festooned camel. Thanks for the reply

 

Many thanks for the comments,solder seems logical now (Still I didn’t think of it) I agree it does look used/worn. I found some other links but not those. I will also do some more searching

 

A very charming and authentic ring, 19th century imo.

It is cire perdue or lost wax casting, probably done in a village setting.
What you see is how the model was first made up of small balls of wax that were pressed together to form Nandi. Then the rings were added from rolled strips of wax.
After that, clay was molded around the model, heated, and the wax poured out.
The last stage is when hot brass was poured into the clay mold and when it cooled and set, the clay was broken off.
In the end result you can still see that the original was made using small balls of wax.

 

Well that’s good news. Very interesting information. Many thanks AJ for explaining the process to me. Amazing really the whole process and the delicate work and time it took to make it. Really makes me appreciate and value the ring more (plus I feel a bit stupid thinking it was so crudely done)